Reports: Juventus ‘close’ to signing Matthijs de Ligt to contract extension

At least when it came to what Juventus was working on off the field Monday, all matters reportedly surrounded on Paul Pogba’s representatives being in Turin to meet with the Bianconeri’s front office team.

It just so happens those same employees of Mino Raiola’s agency represent a few other players who are actually currently on Juve’s payroll.

And the discussion centered around one certain large Dutchman staying as such.

According to a report from Italian journalist Fabrizio Romano and later confirmed by Goal Italia’s Romeo Agresti, Juventus is “close” to agreeing to a contract extension with our resident Dutch baby boy Matthijs de Ligt through 2026. Romano describes contract talks between the two sides as “advanced” and certainly seems like it’s a key to lock down the 22-year-old defender as Juventus’ backline enters a transition phase with Giorgio Chiellini leaving, Leonardo Bonucci in his mid-30s and there not being many certainties as to who else is staying outside of Danilo and Juan Cuadrado.

Sky Sport Italia goes as far Tuesday morning to say that an agreement has been reached between Juventus and the de Ligt camp, although there are no reported details on the deal.

This is significant because of the fact that it was just a few months ago back in December that the now-late Raiola was talking about how de Ligt, one of biggest assets Juventus currently has, “is now ready for a new step” and that the big Dutchman “thinks that, too.” Quick to somewhat retort what was said by Raiola, Agresti reported that the coming months will be the ultimate determining factor in whether de Ligt actually stays with Juventus past the 2021-22 season.

Well, with a contract extension now being worked on, I think it’s safe to say where things stand as of right now.

De Ligt, whose current deal runs through 2024, is already one of Juventus’ highest-paid players, earning over €8 million net a season. One has to think that he’s going to be getting a raise and could end up being the highest-paid player on the roster even if a certain Frenchman is to come back to Juventus this summer or whatever else Juve’s front office has planned for the upcoming transfer window.

What this also means for the reported release clause that Raiola had worked into de Ligt’s original deal with Juventus also remains to be seen. It was thought that de Ligt signing an extension would actually lower the price of the release clause, with the price of where it stands somewhat dependent on where you read about it.

For now, though, it’s about keeping de Ligt right where he is, where he looks to be very happy and enjoy life and becoming more and more important to this team is it tries to transition from an era of success to one that is attempting to get back to those heights.