Manchester City and manager Pep Guardiola have now made a move for in-demand Juventus star Matthijs de Ligt, according to reports.
The Lowdown: Sky Blues swoop expected…
The Premier League champions, as per recent claims from Italy, have been expected to swoop for Man United’s transfer target who is also wanted by Chelsea.
De Ligt, an absolute mainstay for Juve last season, has attracted plenty of attention with Guardiola’s side now firmly entering contention to sign the Netherlands international.
This comes amid a potentially huge summer of change at Eastlands as many first team players are either close to leaving or linked with a possible exit.
To counteract the flurry of possible outgoings, sporting director Txiki Begiristain and chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak have sealed the signings of Erling Haaland, Julian Alvarez and Stefan Ortega with Leeds United star Kalvin Phillips also on the way.
The Latest: City move for de Ligt…
According to Calciomercato Web, the Blues have already ‘proposed’ some players in part-exchange to sign de Ligt from Juve.
However, the Old Lady are thought to not be entertaining that approach – with names like 21/22 final day hero Ilkay Gundogan and Ukraine international Oleksandr Zinchenko now floated as potential makeweights.
The Serie A giants, on on top of these players, would also request €40-50 million (£34m-£43m) as City are allegedly ‘notified’ of their demands.
The Verdict: Too much?
The presence of Ruben Dias, Aymeric Laporte, John Stones and Nathan Ake as things stand make City’s need for a central defender extremely minimal.
Of course, as the latter man attracts interest from Chelsea, it’s safe to say de Ligt would be a more-than phenomenal replacement in terms of quality.
Winning a 2019 Kopa Award, the £200,000-per-week star has also been called a ‘monster‘ by Barcelona star Pedri and finished last season as one of Juve’s best performers by average match rating (WhoScored).
De Ligt also averaged more successful aerial duels per 90 than any of his teammates and completed around 89% of his passes out from the back – highlighting his status as a world class, ball-playing centre-half.
That being said, despite the 22-year-old’s obvious ability, City shouldn’t be pushed into making ludicrous offers.
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