:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/64732311/1143497419.jpg.5.jpg)
OK, let’s try this again.
After a false start over the weekend, let’s restart our engines.
Juventus’ deal with Ajax for Matthijs de Ligt is done and ready to become the latest addition to BWRAO’s “OFFICIALLY OFFICIAL” category. The final details have been agreed to, and the Italian press is now widely reporting that the 19-year-old de Ligt will be in Turin at some point on Tuesday night in advance of Wednesday medical exams and presentation on Thursday.
The final deal being closed, first reported by Gianluca Di Marzio and the rest of the Sky Sport Italia crew, has all been agreed upon, with it being potentially worth €75 million with add-ons.
Why does this feel a little different than the report over the weekend that de Ligt was going to be in Turin on Monday for his medical? (Which, seeing as Monday is almost over in Italy as of this writing, it obviously isn’t happening.)
Because Ajax director Marc Overmars had this to say earlier in the day on Monday:
“The end is in sight. It’s about bank guarantees now, as Ajax are always very strict on these matters. I hope it all progresses quickly, but I’m sure they will work it out. They are Italians.”
(Source: Football Italia)
And seeing as the reports we’re seeing across the Italian media are saying that the deal is done and the de Ligt wheels in terms of actually getting him to Turin are in motion, it makes sense considering what Overmars was saying.
Just as we thought over the weekend, the light at the end of the tunnel is here. With de Ligt arriving in Turin — or, at least, expected to within the next 24 hours — it will be the final steps in what will end up being the second straight July in which one of the best players in the world signs with Juventus. Juventus will make de Ligt the second-highest paid players in Serie A, with the €12 million a year (net) salary trailing just Cristiano Ronaldo’s monster annual income.
But the biggest thing, as Overmars was saying, is that the final details do appear to have been hammered out in a deal that was never going to be as simple as it might appear from the outside looking in. Ajax can continue on with its preseason training even without de Ligt no longer there, and Juve can welcome a star in the making and begin the integrate him into a squad that has such lofty ambitions again this season.