The Matthijs de Ligt rumor mill has officially kicked into overdrive

We knew this kind of situation would come mainly because it’s just one of those summers where things are fluid and the rumors are flying around all over the place even more than Juventus trying to get the game-tying goal against a relegation battler last season.

The Matthijs de Ligt exit rumors are here.

Or, at least they are here if you want to consider some of Italy’s not-so-reputable sports media outlets as ones you actually want to not scoff at 99 percent of the time.

If you opened up the internet Friday morning, you were greeted by the report that involved a big front-page headline from the Corriere dello Sport, resulting in things going a little ... crazy on the internet over the resulting hours. The report from the Corriere dello Sport — one of the lesser reputable sports dailies out there — says that the 22-year-old Dutchman has pretty much ruled out signing a contract extension and wants to leave Juventus this summer, with a transfer to the Premier League the most likely outcome.

How much juice you want to put into a rumor of this extent — which, at this point it totally is — is totally at your discretion. Others, namely the rumor-hungry English tabloid media, has totally jumped all over it and is going absolutely bonkers

Hell, even the same kinds of Twitter accounts that two weeks ago were probably saying something like de Ligt’s career was finished the second he went to Juve are now salivating at the chance of Chelsea signing the young Dutchman this summer.

Funny how that works, I tell ya.

All of this comes off the back of de Ligt’s representation meeting with Juventus’ front office in Milan earlier this week. From all accounts, the big thing was finalizing Paul Pogba’s deal since both players are represented by Mino Raiola’s group, but the contract extension for de Ligt was also discussed, according to reports. Since then, there’s been mixed reports as to where things stand regarding said new deal for de Ligt — some, like Corsport, say that things aren’t so great while some other (and more reputable) reporters have been saying that talks will continue to try and make progress on a contract extension.

As has been previously reported, if de Ligt does sign a new contract with Juventus it will likely come with a lower release clause.

The catch in all of this sudden de Ligt frenzy? (Yes, even more than his More reputable reporting on the matter has painted a little bit of a different kind of picture.

The likes of Sky Italia and Goal Italia’s Romeo Agresti certainly haven’t gone so far to say that de Ligt wants out and that there’s really nothing Juventus can do about it at this point. Agresti tweeted Friday that, while there have been first talks between Juve and Chelsea regarding the Dutchman, “Juve’s position is clear: there is the will to arrive at the renewal, but a signal from (de Ligt) is needed. Without it, new scenarios may open up.”

Sky’s Gianluca Di Marzio is reporting is pretty much the same kind of thing: Juventus will likely not even entertain any kind of offer unless it’s a nine-figure offer — which makes sense since de Ligt’s release clause reportedly stands at €125 million. Di Marzio also reported Friday that Chelsea are willing to offer €45 million plus Timo Werner to try and sign de Ligt, with the German attack reportedly already giving his OK to be involved in the deal.

Sky Italia added Friday that as of today, Juventus are not looking to sign a central defender, which for the moment gives you hope that de Ligt will be staying with Juventus come next season.

Fabrizio Romano added Friday night that Chelsea are certainly interested in signing de Ligt, but ask for “a big fee” and are still talking about a contract extension with him.

Basically, there’s a whole lot of stuff being thrown out there right now and you’re probably going to believe what you want to believe and scoff at what you want to not even think is real. The problem is, there’s so much being thrown out there right now, who truly knows what can even be considered as even close to factual other than the handful of reporters that you can consider reliable.

But I feel safe in saying that Juventus are a better club with Matthijs de Ligt than they are without him on the roster. And in a summer with so much uncertainty already out there, suddenly having de Ligt’s future thrown into flux is just another piece to the puzzle that unfortunately is now something we’re going to have to talk about a lot, lot more.