Matthijs De Ligt Joining Bayern Munich Highlights His And Juventus’ Lack Of Progress

Back in 2019, as he looked to accelerate his development and compete for European football’s top honours, Matthijs de Ligt moved to one of the continent’s biggest and most successful clubs.

Three years later, as he leaves Juventus for Bayern Munich, many would argue he is simply doing the same thing again.

Indeed, the departure of the Netherlands international is a succinct and clear message: a talented young player no longer believes he can realise his full potential in Turin.

That is a damning indictment of the wastefulness Juve have shown, something which perhaps stems all the way back to the 2017 Champions League Final. It is a spell which has included some poor decisions over the Head Coach, some woeful moves on the transfer market, and ultimately a string of dire performances on the pitch.

Having been demolished 4-1 by Real Madrid in Cardiff, any casual observer could’ve told you that the team was in desperate need of midfield reinforcements, the Sami Khedira-Miralem Pjanic duo simply being overrun by a Spanish side that boasted both superior numbers and more talent in that area of the field.

Khedira was clearly in decline and Claudio Marchisio was struggling with injuries, while Blaise Matuidi, Stefano Sturaro and Rodrigo Bentancur were never likely to be mistaken for their predecessors Andrea Pirlo, Paul Pogba and Arturo Vidal.

Yet instead of making moves to improve that department, Juve instead spent €46 million ($46.82m) on Douglas Costa and €40 million ($40.71m) on Federico Bernardeschi. That’s two left-footed wingers in a single summer, given to a Coach who was never going to field the pair in tandem when he also had to use Paulo Dybala and Gonzalo Higuain.

Moving on a year and 2018 was the summer that Cristiano Ronaldo was brought to Turin, a €100 million ($101.75m) transfer fee that made Higuain surplus to requirements.

Yet after adding CR7, sporting director Fabio Paratici looked at a team that – thanks to Giorgio Chiellini and Medhi Benatia – boasted the best defence in Serie A and still decided to spend €35 million ($35.65m) on Leonardo Bonucci.

Another €40.4 million ($41.15m) went to Valencia for Joao Cancelo, while Emre Can arrived as a free agent from Liverpool. That latter duo lasted just one year as Juve, seeking a more modern playing style, parted company with Allegri and appointed Maurizio Sarri as their new Coach.

Sarri wanted a more defensively astute right-back than Cancelo, so a swap deal was struck with Manchester City that brought Danilo in exchange. But Juve and Paratici didn’t stop there, spending heavily on yet more defenders, not only paying Ajax €75 million ($76.45m) for De Ligt but also handing Sassuolo €18 million ($18.35m) for Merih Demiral.

Meanwhile, Can would go too. Sarri would try and fail to make Mirlem Pjanic into a true regista, while Khedira, Matuidi and Bentancur continued to make little impression.

But with all the money available being spent on defenders yet again, it was only free agents Aaron Ramsey and Adrien Rabiot who were added in midfield. Sarri somehow won the league with this ill-constructed side, but was replaced by Andrea Pirlo.

As if to prove the folly of the Douglas Costa and Federico Bernardeschi moves, Juve then invested in more wingers. That meant spending another €50 million ($50.97m) to bring in Federico Chiesa and €35 million ($35.65m) on Dejan Kulusevski, while the midfield once again got short changed as Pjanic went to Barcelona in a swap deal for Arthur Melo and Weston McKennie arrived on loan from Schalke.

Pirlo had never coached before, so he understandably struggled to forge a coherent unit from such badly fitting pieces, eventually sacked after one year to facilitate the return of Max Allegri.

At the same time, Juve finally invested properly in midfield as Manuel Locatelli arrived from Sassuolo, even if there was an inescapable feeling that he was a player who would’ve thrived far more under Pirlo or Sarri.

So to sum that up; Allegri got overrun in midfield so Juve bought him wingers, then sacked him. Sarri needed a regista and was given central defenders but won the league and still got sacked. Pirlo got the regista Sarri needed (Arthur) and two more wingers, but struggled to be competitive and was replaced by Allegri, who in turn got the modern midfielder (Locatelli) that would’ve helped make Pirlo’s system work.

The Coronavirus pandemic of course impacted on the club’s finances, but the significant amounts of money that were spent were clearly used in the wrong areas as the Old Lady was seemingly addressing her problems a year too late at every step.

Now, she has sold De Ligt to Bayern for €67 million ($68.64m), roughly $8 million less than the €75 million ($76.83m) Juve paid Ajax in 2019. Losing money on such a player would’ve been unthinkable at the time he made his move to Italy, another fact that adds to the feeling that the past three seasons have been utterly wasted.

Is it any surprise then that De Ligt has decided his future would be better served elsewhere? Juve appear to be in a never-ending cycle of changing sporting director, coaches, central defenders and wingers, unable to land the right combination at any point and ignoring the glaring weakness in midfield for over four years.

“I think the way of Bayern is the same way I played at Ajax” De Ligt said in an interview on the German club’s official website, adding that “at Juventus it was a little bit different.”

Looking at the landscape objectively, it is wholly understandable that De Ligt has decided that Juventus are actually no closer to their lofty ambitions now than they were when he first arrived at the club. They might actually be further away.

Furthermore, remembering just how highly regarded he was back then, it is equally fair to say that the player himself has largely stood still too. The tumultuous state of Juventus and his own poor form mean that his time in Serie A has not been the enriching and educational experience everyone expected it to be.

Far from both benefiting from it, De Ligt and Juve have seemingly just remained frozen in one spot, time passing but no tangible gains being made.

So he has decided to end his Italian adventure in favour of a move to Bayern Munich, a team who like the Bianconeri dominate their domestic league but who — crucially — also know how to succeed in the Champions League.

Indeed, in the past nine years alone they have won the Bundesliga title every season and have lifted European football’s top honour twice, adding the German Cup each campaign for good measure too.

They are everything Juventus aspire to be, making Matthijs de Ligt’s decision both an understandable one and a damning indictment of the Old Lady’s profligacy throughout their three years together at the same time.