In what’ll come as little surprise to Manchester United supporters, the club are targeting one of Erik ten Hag’s former protegees.
This time around, it’s former Ajax stalwart Matthijs de Ligt who’s made INEOS’ centre-half shortlist, as per Sky Sports’ Florian Plettenberg.
The 24-year-old joins Jarrad Branthwaite, 22, and Leny Yoro, 18, as options to bolster the backline after last season’s debilitating injury crisis culminated with Casemiro deputising at centre-back.
It’s been widely reported that since Sir Jim Ratcliffe and Co. came to the decision of keeping Ten Hag long-term, the manager would now be taking a backseat on transfer dealings and instead leave such matters up to the likes of technical director Jason Wilcox.
However, the interest in De Ligt has Ten Hag written all over it. Should a transfer for the Dutch international materialise, he’d reunite with Antony, Lisandro Martinez and Andre Onana – all of which played under the manager in Amsterdam.
Read more: United ace’s brother comically reacts to transfer rumours by saying what all fans are thinking
Juventus beat a host of clubs – including United – to De Ligt’s signature in 2019 after he captained the side to the Champions League semi-finals and a domestic double at just 19 years old. He spent three years in Turin before making the switch to Bayern Munich, who are now open to moving him on after just two seasons, which may be a red flag in itself.
Bayern schedule negotiations with De Ligt
Plettenberg’s update claims that ‘concrete talks will take place’ between Bayern and the player when he returns from the Euros; the Netherlands will face Romania in the Round of 16, although he was benched for all three of his nation’s group-stage matches.
United value De Ligt in the region of €50 million (£42m).
