Matthijs De Ligt | Ajax CB

11101

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if this kid is the future and it sounds like he is we might have to bite the bullet and see if we can tempt him. What does that say about his character though if he picks us over Barca?
Not much. Barcelona will have their own Sir Alex Ferguson moment when Messi retires. If i were a young player with his talent I'd be looking at who might dominate football in the next 5-10 years and I'd be wary of either club.

No doubt Raiola will be advising him to go to whoever offers the biggest agent's fee.
 

wythyred

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He is an incredible player already never mind talent.

United need to throw the chequebook at Ajax and pay what is required.

He’s that good and will be for the next 10-15 years.
 

breakout67

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He is an incredible player already never mind talent.

United need to throw the chequebook at Ajax and pay what is required.

He’s that good and will be for the next 10-15 years.
We've got Smalling and Jones on new contracts, that's our defence sorted for the foreseeable future.
 

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There are some rumours now it's already a done deal with Barca, but not announced yet to not destabilize Ajax in a still running season.
 

buckooo1978

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Not much. Barcelona will have their own Sir Alex Ferguson moment when Messi retires. If i were a young player with his talent I'd be looking at who might dominate football in the next 5-10 years and I'd be wary of either club.

No doubt Raiola will be advising him to go to whoever offers the biggest agent's fee.
you do know Barca have been signing De Jong, Dembele, Coutinho, Malcom, Artur etc while we bought Grant, Dalot and Fred

Barca are certainly looking more of a sure bet than us as annoying as that is

we need a Director of Football and start building from there
 

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There are some rumours now it's already a done deal with Barca, but not announced yet to not destabilize Ajax in a still running season.
Most likely scenario. These players, you need to buy them 1-2 years before they have their breakout season. Like we used to do
 

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Him and Van Dijk are gonna be a cheat code for the Netherlands in the upcoming Euros. Unreal. I wouldn't mind €100m for him this offseason, and I think we have a better chance than most teams because of our Dutchmen and performances the last two years.

Seems nailed on as Pique's successor though.
Sane utterly destroyed them last month to be honest. They're great against pure goalscorers like Ronaldo/Mandzukic/Benzema, but fast dribblers can tear them apart.
 

Zlatattack

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Woodward should be tonsil deep in Raiola's backside making sure this kid signs for us. He is too good to miss out on.
 

golden_blunder

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you do know Barca have been signing De Jong, Dembele, Coutinho, Malcom, Artur etc while we bought Grant, Dalot and Fred

Barca are certainly looking more of a sure bet than us as annoying as that is

we need a Director of Football and start building from there
It’s depressing when you put it like that though I still hold out hopes for Fred and in the long-term, Dalot

We urgently need that DoF before the summer business gets underway
 

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Most likely scenario. These players, you need to buy them 1-2 years before they have their breakout season. Like we used to do
Well the rumours are not that the deal has been done 1-2 years ago, but the last couple of weeks.
 

11101

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you do know Barca have been signing De Jong, Dembele, Coutinho, Malcom, Artur etc while we bought Grant, Dalot and Fred

Barca are certainly looking more of a sure bet than us as annoying as that is

we need a Director of Football and start building from there
None of whom are anywhere even close to Messi. Lots of good talents but nobody yet looks like stepping up to fill the void he will leave.

Unfortunately we're not the competition. Teams like City are.
 

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I hope Liverpool are interested. We can't offer him the chance to reunite with his buddy de Jong, but we do have VVD at the club, and I'm sure that counts for something.

Maybe we can let him bring his mate van de Beek along. Anything to help him settle in, y'know?
 

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I was listening to a Dutch journalist on the radio this morning, and he said De Ligt's camp were quite surprised that no club in the EPL had made contact about signing him. Maybe most from these shores see it as a futile prospect in the first place, so are not even chancing an inquiry? Hope that's not the case, but said jouno did heavily suggest that Barca are in pole-postion at present if any option to buy comes available.
That's pretty ridiculous if true...
 

buckooo1978

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It’s depressing when you put it like that though I still hold out hopes for Fred and in the long-term, Dalot

We urgently need that DoF before the summer business gets underway
agreed on DoF

can't decide is it scandalous we haven't appointed one yet or are we waiting until the end of the season for the right man

I hope it's the latter but wouldn't be surprised if it was the former
 

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Imagine being a barcelona supporter and knowing that De Jong and very possibly De Ligt will be joining them in the summer on top of the squad they already possess.
 

SalfordRed18

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agreed on DoF

can't decide is it scandalous we haven't appointed one yet or are we waiting until the end of the season for the right man

I hope it's the latter but wouldn't be surprised if it was the former
Ed Woodward strikes me as arrogant enough to truly believe he can do the Job so we dont need a Dof.
 

Tommy

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Imagine being a barcelona supporter and knowing that De Jong and very possibly De Ligt will be joining them in the summer on top of the squad they already possess.
Can't be bad, can it?

It's crazy that the Barcelona squad is already cheaper than United, Liverpool & City's current squads.
 

izec

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Imagine being a barcelona supporter and knowing that De Jong and very possibly De Ligt will be joining them in the summer on top of the squad they already possess.
Thats what they expect. Real Madrid fans expect a huge summer as well i guess. While Ed will give us 2 signings and be done with it and we are in a much more fragile state.
 

BlueHaze

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We should have signed him literally right after that EL final. Even back then he showed what a phenomenal talent he was. Now we are going to lose out on another player that fits the exact type of profile we are looking for while players like Smalling and Jones will likely be starting games for us next season. Shambolic.
 

Henrik Larsson

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I was listening to a Dutch journalist on the radio this morning, and he said De Ligt's camp were quite surprised that no club in the EPL had made contact about signing him. Maybe most from these shores see it as a futile prospect in the first place, so are not even chancing an inquiry? Hope that's not the case, but said jouno did heavily suggest that Barca are in pole-postion at present if any option to buy comes available.
I've also seen an interview with Edwin where he says that literally all the European top clubs have showed interest in him at some point.

He also said that Fergie told him De Ligt was going to be 'the player' (to watch out for in the future) after the Europea League final in Stockholm. I'd be very surprised if City hasn't showed any interest, for example after De Jong signed for Barcelona he explained that he also had a converstation with Guardiola.
 

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I've also seen an interview with Edwin where he says that literally all the European top clubs have showed interest in him at some point.

He also said that Fergie told him De Ligt was going to be 'the player' (to watch out for in the future) after the Europea League final in Stockholm. I'd be very surprised if City hasn't showed any interest, for example after De Jong signed for Barcelona he explained that he also had a converstation with Guardiola.
Can someone please just kick Edwin's door down and force him to sign on as our new DoF?
 

RobinLFC

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Can't be bad, can it?

It's crazy that the Barcelona squad is already cheaper than United, Liverpool & City's current squads.
It all starts top down and with the manager. Arthur cost half of what Fred cost and is considered a good buy, but I couldn't for the life of me see him being this good would he play for United. It's "easy" to play along in this Barça squad which has had its identity for over a decade and has the same players in their core like Messi, Suarez, Busquets, Pique, Rakitic, for years on end.

Apart from Coutinho and Suarez, they didn't pay more than €35m for any of their starters last night, and only two of them were more than €20m. They started with 5 academy products. However way you look at it, that's crazy and something you don't see anymore in the latter stages of the CL these days, apart from at Ajax at the moment.

They're in a league of their own.
 
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He really does look and perform like a Roy Of The Rovers type player.You look at his attributes combined with his physicality and mentality.
I'm confident enough,baring injuries,we could be looking at the potential best CB in Europe for the next decade.He's got everything.
 

Andersons Dietician

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I’ve really liked him since they played against us but in terms of buying him this summer I wouldn’t have thought he was really a leader of a defence but after seeing him last night screw the we need to buy experience blah blah blah Koulibaly, Alderweireld blah blah blah.
DeLigt already a leader at 19 and bar that one mistake last night for the Ronaldo goal he was superb.
 

RooneyLegend

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I agree and maybe that is our only option but part of our problem is that we are seen as a cash cow by players and clubs

Why on earth did Sanchez pick us ahead of City? apart from that wage which has caused untold issues with contract renewals and made him practically unsellable

if this kid is the future and it sounds like he is we might have to bite the bullet and see if we can tempt him. What does that say about his character though if he picks us over Barca?
That's not our problem, our problem is that we give mediocre players huge wages that no one is likely to match or compete with. Look at the rumored increments that's some of our players want despite not being worth anywhere near that. This kid is amongst the finest defenders in the world at age 19. He'd be one of the few worth their wage at the club. Honestly couldn't care less about his motivation, as long as he produces the goods on the pitch.
 

Henrik Larsson

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Can someone please just kick Edwin's door down and force him to sign on as our new DoF?
He's more like the managing director/CEO of Ajax actually, involved in managing the board of directors and dealing with the daily business of the whole club and commercial activities and such. Marc Overmars is the guy doing the transfers and holds the title of director of football.

Though of course having a managing director at a club who has a strong footballing background like Edwin can be great, and he works closely together with Overmars as well, exactly like Cruijff intened with his 'revolution' back in 2010 inspired by the Bayern München model.
 

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He's amazing and it's starting to get depressing how it's become an absolute certainty that the really elite young talents will never end up getting signed by United (unless we sign them on the decline, 10 years later, for frankly ludicrous sums of money).
Agreed. This is why it's imperative for United to do everything they can to achieve top 4 this season. Why would De Ligt join united with no champions league football, a rookie manager & a squad full of dross when pretty much every top club in Europe is probably going to be knocking Ajax's door in the summer?

As a neutral looking in from the outside it's a similar situation I was observing with Liverpool 8/9 years or so ago. The fans were all expecting signings like David Villa & Franck Ribery even though their squad/manager was sub-par and they were struggling to make champions league every season. A DOF is an absolute must if United are to get back to where they should be within the next few seasons. Otherwise it looks like Ed will continue signing young players not good enough for the club and old superstars way past their sell by date.
 

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It all starts top down and with the manager. Arthur cost half of what Fred cost and is considered a good buy, but I couldn't for the life of me see him being this good would he play for United. It's "easy" to play along in this Barça squad which has had its identity for over a decade and has the same players in their core like Messi, Suarez, Busquets, Pique, Rakitic, for years on end.

Apart from Coutinho and Suarez, they didn't pay more than €35m for any of their starters last night, and only two of them were more than €20m. They started with 5 academy products. However way you look at it, that's crazy and something you don't see anymore in the latter stages of the CL these days, apart from at Ajax at the moment.

They're in a league of their own.
Lingard, Rashford, Pogba and McTominay all played for our academy and all started last night, so we're not far behind in this regard.

Far behind in many other ways, obviously!
 

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Well the rumours are not that the deal has been done 1-2 years ago, but the last couple of weeks.
For United to get such a player, we should have pushed 1-2 years ago. Nowadays, we cant compete with the other top teams when it comes to established supertalents
 

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Ronaldo got away from him on the corner for Juventus' first goal. He was the man next to Ronaldo, who made a run towards the edge of the box to get away from him and then curved his run forward to get on the end of the cross before De Ligt got to him again. He even pushed Veltman over as he was trying to get back in position to deal with Ronaldo. So not good play from De Ligt on the first goal

Very nice headed goal though
 

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For United to get such a player, we should have pushed 1-2 years ago. Nowadays, we cant compete with the other top teams when it comes to established supertalents
If we got him 2 years ago he'd be no where near the level having sat on our bench under Mou!
 

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Raiola manages him.

That speaks volumes about his personality.
nope. Barry Hulshoff, Ajax defender of the legendary 70s team, a very down to earth old-school football kind of guy has managed him since he was a kid. he isn't actually an agent though so they brought in Raiola to negotiate the transfer dealings for them which tbh is just quite reasonable if you genuinely have the player's best interests at heart and no experience with that sort of thing yourself
 

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I was listening to a Dutch journalist on the radio this morning, and he said De Ligt's camp were quite surprised that no club in the EPL had made contact about signing him. Maybe most from these shores see it as a futile prospect in the first place, so are not even chancing an inquiry? Hope that's not the case, but said jouno did heavily suggest that Barca are in pole-postion at present if any option to buy comes available.
especially bizarre because he's openly spoken about his admiration for English football and love for English defenders and stuff in the past, as well as the fact that he doesn't really care for the Spanish league and has never really followed it (in discussion with De Jong in that Q&A vid, who was talking about having always followed Barca)
 

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Lingard, Rashford, Pogba and McTominay all played for our academy and all started last night, so we're not far behind in this regard.

Far behind in many other ways, obviously!
Quality academy player should be the word. Lingard is trash. Mctominay though solid is a squad player in a real united squad and in any of the other top 6 in the prem Rashford is a bench player and Pogba is the only real quality player from that list.
 

SportingCP96

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Play style wise he should follow Frenkie and go to barca.
 

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This guy looks to have a huge future ahead of him, last night probably served to increase his transfer value. He went through two Juventus defenders as if they weren't there when he scored.
Hard to believe at times he is only 19. Monumental potential, Barcelona looks his most likely destination, hopefully it won't be City or Liverpool. Sadly United might well struggle to to sign players of this calibre just now.