Report: Matthijs de Ligt agrees to personal terms with Bayern Munich

In very quick fashion, Bayern Munich hasn’t just entered the race to sign Juventus defender Matthijs de Ligt. The German giants have thrown themselves into the fray and made it be known that they mean business when it has been believed for the better part of the last two weeks that Chelsea were the frontrunners to sign the 22-year-old Dutchman.

That looks to be changing now.

According to Sport1 in Germany on Tuesday, de Ligt and Bayern Munich have agreed to personal terms on a contract that would help clear the way for Juventus and the German champions to begin negotiating one of the biggest transfers of the summer transfer window. While there aren’t many details about what the potential contract for de Ligt might entail, Sport1 also confirms a Sky Sport Germany report that the defender’s preference is to spurn the interest of Chelsea and join Bayern Munich, a club that he was heavily linked to before signing with Juventus three years ago.

Sport1 says that our old buddy Hasan Salihamidzic wants to begin negotiations with Juventus over the next few days, trying to strike while the iron is hot and beat Chelsea to the punch.

Not up to speed on your German and struggling to read the tweet above? Here is an English translation:

Bayern have verbally agreed personal terms with de Ligt. The Dutchman is clear that he wants to join Bayern. Salihamidžić & Nagelsmann managed to convince the player, but didn’t need to do much because de Ligt is a Bayern fan from early age and wanted to join in 2019

(Source: Bayern & Germany/@iMiaSanMia on Twitter)

It’s quite the change from where things were heading into the weekend when we pretty much only knew of Chelsea as a legit destination for de Ligt, although the price that the Blues were reportedly willing to pay for him at the time weren’t exactly one that would blow Juve away. It has been consistently reported that Juventus want in the neighborhood of €100 million for de Ligt and have made it rather clear that they want it to be straight cash. While Bayern aren’t exactly coming in with any sort of massive offers right off the bat, according to previous reports, there’s a general feeling that they want to close this quick.

What that means for a potential transfer fee remains to be seen. But, for now, there are two clubs very much interested in signing de Ligt. And while Chelsea also tries to secure another center back or two at the same time, Bayern very much looks to be focused on one — you know, the guy with massive quads and the kind of prep school good looks.