Barcelona have reportedly made some progress on the potential Matthijs de Ligt transfer after agreeing a fee with Ajax for the highly-rated young defender.
Spanish TV show Club de la Mitjanit claim Barcelona have agreed to pay around £67million for the 19-year-old, though it remains to be seen if the player himself will choose a move to the Nou Camp.
MORE: Manchester United ready to pay €70million to beat rivals to major transfer
? DE LIGT-BARÇA, 75 MILIONS ?? @orioldomenech:
? "La xifra ja està acordada i és el que el Barça pagarà si De Ligt decideix venir. L'acord entre els dos clubs és total"
? "Si ve al Barça, dubto que ho anunciïn al mes de juny. Ho anunciaran al juliol"#ClubMitjanit pic.twitter.com/GeUMqhszlD
— Club de la Mitjanit (@ClubMitjanit) June 10, 2019
There’s been so much transfer gossip written about De Ligt for months now that it can be hard to keep up, with Barcelona initially looking the major favourites to sign him, according to a report by ESPN a little while ago.
Manchester United have also been strongly linked with the Netherlands international, who would undoubtedly be a major upgrade on their current defensive options, but the Independent yesterday reported that Paris Saint-Germain were confident they were currently the favourites to beat the likes of Man Utd and Barcelona to his signature.
In short, we probably won’t know until it’s actually done, with plenty of twists and turns surely left in this long-running saga.
Still, if Barcelona have agreed a fee as Club de la Mitjanit claim, and if De Ligt himself favours Barca’s playing style as the Independent claim, then perhaps the Catalan giants currently look the slight favourites for this deal.
This would require a new top defensive target for United, with BBC Sport suggesting that man could be Leicester City centre-back Harry Maguire – a very decent alternative.