:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/64069081/1153900824.jpg.0.jpg)
Matthijs de Ligt has been rumored to be heading to a lot of different places this summer. And that doesn’t involve his summer vacation, either. There’s been Barcelona. There’s been Paris Saint-Germain. There’s been Real Madrid, Manchester United, Manchester City, Liverpool and just about any other big club that can afford him.
That includes Juventus.
And, according to a Dutch media outlet Friday, Juventus could very well be the one where de Ligt finally decides to sign.
Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf is reporting that Juventus is closing on a deal for the prized 19-year-old Ajax defender who has taken Europe by storm the last two years. They go as far to say that de Ligt will move to Juventus in a transfer worth €70 million, with the Ajax captain set to make a salary upwards of €20 million — we don’t know if that’s gross or net — per season if he does indeed move to Turin.
Sky Sport Italia transfer guru Gianluca Di Marzio also had some de Ligt-related news on Friday. He didn’t go as far as De Telegraaf did by saying that a deal is close to being done between Juventus and Ajax, but Di Marzio stated that “confidence is growing and the situation is now in the hands of Juventus” regarding a move for de Ligt. Di Marzio also says that Juve’s Chief Football Officer Fabio Paratici will back on the hunt to try and get a deal done come the weekend.
And with that I will allow you to catch your breath for a second.
I will plead complete ignorance and say that I have absolutely no idea what kind of reliability that De Telegraaf has. They could be the Netherlands’ most-trusted news source or basically the Dutch version of Tuttosport. I don’t know, and probably won’t know unless Juventus actually do end up signing de Ligt.
But what I do know is this: The No. 4 jersey is going to be open in a matter of days with Martin Caceres’ six-month deal in Turin expiring. So there’s that — and also this report from De Telegraaf that says de Ligt is close to signing with Juventus, which is quite interesting.