Matthijs de Ligt is closing in on an agreement with Italian champions Juventus which could apparently prove to be a blow to several clubs who had been in pursuit of the Dutch centre back.
According to Italian outlet Corriere dello Sport, Juventus have apparently reached an agreement to sign the Ajax captain de Ligt in a deal that will see them pay £67.3million to land the Dutchman.
The deal is expected to be completed by Monday. It wasn’t an easy job for Juventus to secure the services of de Ligt as they faced tough competition from the likes of FC Barcelona, Manchester Unite and PSG.
19-year-old Matthijs de Ligt caught everyone’s eye after he led Ajax to an impressive Champions League semi finals last season. Also his defensive partnership with Virgil Van Dijk for Netherlands was very impressive, that eventually saw them reach the Nations League final.
Former Juventus boss Marcello Lippi also gave his opinion on de Ligt, stating that the Dutchman will a great acquisition to the side.
“I believe that the player who would be the best signing for Juve would be De Ligt,” Lippi told Tuttosport. “I think he is really strong. He’s physically imposing and has great football intelligence, he gives you a good balance, is technically strong and also scores a lot of goals.”
Lippi was also on high praise for de Ligt who then went on to state that like some of the Italian legends, he hasn’t seen anyone for his age that posed of such abilities.
“Like Alessandro Nesta, Franco Baresi, Paolo Maldini, Ciro Ferrara, Fabio Cannavaro, and Marco Materazzi. I’ve never seen anyone like that at his age. Juve with De Ligt would make a further leap in quality, putting him beside Giorgio Chiellini and Leonardo Bonucci would be the key to making a strong Juventus even stronger. They would be capable of achieving any target, even the Champions League.”
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