Manchester United are reportedly out of the running to clinch the transfer of Ajax defender Matthijs de Ligt this summer.
According to RAC1 journalist Gerard Romero in the tweet below, sources close to the player have claimed the Red Devils are no longer in contention, with the only three clubs left who can sign him named as Barcelona, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain.
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??DE LIGT. Esta noche jugará el último partido de la temporada y veremos su futuro, pronto. Propuestas que han caído. La del United cayó según el entorno del jugador, ese mismo entorno mantiene que PSG, Juventus y Barça son los candidatos para la salida #mercato pic.twitter.com/ybB2YPvN0U
— Gerard Romero (@gerardromero) June 9, 2019
It remains to be seen if this will really be the end of rumours linking the Netherlands international with Man Utd, but Romero has generally proven a reliable source on this transfer saga so far.
United have also looked like outsiders for most of this saga due to the simple fact that they cannot offer De Ligt Champions League football next season.
The Daily Mirror have also linked the in-demand 19-year-old strongly with Liverpool, though there’s nothing about them from Romero.
It now perhaps looks most likely that we won’t be seeing De Ligt in the Premier League any time soon, which is a shame as he’s a world class talent in the making.
United really need a top centre-back to come in this summer, so will now surely turn their attention towards other targets like Harry Maguire, linked with the club by the Mail and others.