Matthijs de Ligt could yet move to the Premier League this summer as Juventus continue to drag their heels over the widely expected deal to sign him from Ajax.
The Netherlands international has attracted interest from a number of the biggest clubs in Europe, with Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Juve and Manchester United all interested in his services.
Barca had looked his most likely destination for some time, but that changed, with Juventus taking the lead in the race for his signature and emerging as his preferred destination.
However, the Italian club have not reached an agreement with Ajax over a transfer fee, while both Man Utd and PSG reportedly have.
With Juve’s opening offer just €55m (£49.3m) with €10m (£9m) add-ons, Ajax are not impressed and could take the Turin side out of the running to sign their captain.
European football expert Julien Laurens explained the situation to ESPN FC: ‘I think there’s a chance where Ajax will lose a little bit of patience and say “hang on a minute, PSG agreed, Manchester United agreed. In that case we stop talking to you and De Ligt can choose between the clubs that we actually have an agreement in place.”
‘It’s not really in Ajax’s interest to waste a bit more time about De Ligt.
‘They want the money in, they want for him to go, he was great for them but now he’s decided that he wants to go.
‘They want that deal to happen, they won’t want to have to go back and forth in negotiations with Juventus or whoever else.
‘So they might well say “do you know what, we already have an agreement in place with some clubs, we’re going to only focus on them clubs and De Ligt would have to choose between those clubs because you’re wasting our time”‘.
With De Ligt preferring the move to Juventus and the Serie A champions keen to bring him in, it is most likely that they will simply improve their offer for the 19-year-old rather than risk him going elsewhere.
However, until they do that, United, PSG and Barcelona all retain a hope of signing the centre-back.
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