Manchester United are now in talks to make a £33.9m defender the first addition of the summer at Old Trafford.
Erik ten Hag welcomes his squad back for pre-season training on Monday and as things stand there isn’t a single addition to the ranks.
Ineos have taken their time with recruitment but now seem ready to go with the club’s hierarchy at full strength as Dan Ashworth and Christopher Vivell joined Omar Berrada and Jason Wilcox at the club.
Since this, we’ve seen the main names for this summer heat up, despite all being involved in international tournaments which has undoubtedly slowed things down for Manchester United.
But now reports indicate that talks have been opened for a long-term target, and he’s proving far cheaper than the club had thought he’d be when initial interest was made in March.
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Manchester United now in formal talks over Matthijs de Ligt
It’s one of the summer’s quickest-moving stories right now and now there have been more updates around the future of Matthijs de Ligt and the rumoured move to Old Trafford.
According to journalist Ben Jacobs, United are now in formal talks to sign the Dutchman from the Allianz Arena this summer – despite Bayern fans’ clear objection to the deal.
De Ligt is the defensive focus right now, due to difficulties around Jean-Clair Todibo and also Jarrad Branthwaite being priced too highly.
Jacobs adds that initial discussions are over a fee of around £33.9 million (€40m) – a figure which is significantly less than the £56.7m which Bayern Munich spent on him in 2022.
This fee is lower than United anticipated when De Ligt initially became an option in March, and that’ll please not only the club but fans too – along with making a move for a second defender easier.
De Ligt prepared to take pay cut to join United
The reduced fee isn’t the only update on this move that we have though, with United also set to see De Ligt drop his wage demands.
This comes according to Christopher Michel who reports for Fussball News that De Ligt would be willing to reduce his wage at Old Trafford and take a pay cut on his current £260k-a-week wage at Bayern.
The report adds that United hope that De Ligt will agree to a deal of less than £847,455-a-month, which works out to around £200k-a-week.
This update is arguably the biggest concern answered in terms of the deal to sign De Ligt.
Rio Ferdinand will be delighted to see De Ligt arrive
Should United get this deal over the line, one man who’ll be delighted is club legend Rio Ferdinand, along with Rasmus Hojlund who praised De Ligt as a ‘good defender’.
Ferdinand lauded De Ligt back in 2019 while he was at Ajax after watching him in action on punditry for TNT Sports.
“De Ligt, the best young centre-half on the planet. Beautiful and majestic ball-playing ability. Scored a huge goal as well there as well.”
This high praise from one of the best defenders of the 21st century so far and reminds us of what De Ligt is capable of under Ten Hag.
This is a deal we are warming to the idea of.
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