Matthijs De Ligt is reportedly being tracked by European giants Manchester United and North London side Tottenham Hotspur. The young defender plied his football for Dutch club Ajax this season. The talented defender is only 18 years old and has been a bright star in Ajax’s first team squad this season. He joined the Dutch side at the age of 9 and made his first-team debut a couple of years back in 2016.
He was one of the star performers in Ajax’s run to the Europa League final last season. He has now played for two seasons at the club and the versatile defender who can fit in anywhere across the defence reportedly has a £48million price tag on his head.
De ligt is an ambitious player and hence might want to move to a club which can present him with an opportunity to play against the best and compete for trophies. The youngster is a promising talent and was scouted by a host of clubs across Europe including Mauricio Pochettino’s Tottenham Hotspur.
The player’s contract does run till 2021 but Ajax manager will be faced with a difficult task of either keeping a player tied down and then losing him for free or demanding a high transfer fee for any suitor who might come looking for De Ligt.
De Ligt’s age is, however, no issue in terms of experience as he has already played over 50 games for the club and has five senior caps under his belt at a tender age of 18. As for Spurs, they already swooped his former defensive partner Davinson Sanchez last season from Ajax and the defender has so far turned out to be a hit.
They could now follow it up by bringing in De Ligt as well. Spurs are facing a difficult situation with the contract of Toby Alderweireld and might have to let him go sooner rather than later. This would mean that Spurs would need a backup option for Vertonghen and Sanchez. De Ligt could prove to be just the man for them.
Moreover, Tottenham could snub out the competition from Manchester United by offering them Toby Alderweireld who is already on the fringes with the club. This would leave Spurs free to take the lead to land De Ligt.
An young player like him is unlikely to get a better mentor than Pochettino who himself was a defender back in the day and moreover, is one of the best managers of young players in Europe at the moment.
