Bayern Munich Leads $90 Million Race For Matthijs De Ligt

Bayern Munich has reached personal terms with Juventus defender Matthijs de Ligt. Both clubs are still negotiating a fee, with Juventus asking in the region of $90 million. Bayern has offered significantly below Juve’s demands, but an agreement could be reached thanks to bonus payments.

Chelsea is also in the race, but De Ligt always favored a move to the Rekordmeister and the Bundesliga. There are still obstacles but once completed; this transfer will go down as a master stroke by Bayern’s director of sport Hasan Salihamidzic, CEO Oliver Kahn, and head coach Julian Nagelsmann.

Salihamidzic and Nagelsmann, in particular, deserve praise should the move go through. The two have sat down with the De Ligt camp and gave the player a clear perspective on his future. The Nagelsmann pull is real; players want to work with the talented 34-year-old head coach.

After signing Sadio Mané for just $35.2 million, De Ligt would become the second blockbuster signing of the summer for the Rekordmeister. Including bonus payments, the transfer could be a new record fee for Bayern Munich. The current record is held by Lucas Hernández, for whom Bayern paid $88 million in the summer of 2019.

Juventus, in turn, would almost recuperate the full $94.5 million the club paid to Ajax for De Ligt in the summer of 2019. That summer, Bayern was also interested in signing the now 22-year-old Dutch center-back but ultimately lost out to the Serie A club. De Ligt has since played 117 games (eight goals, three assists), but there was never a sense that both sides were pleased with one another.

Now three years later, the two sides could finally be unified. For Bayern, De Ligt would not just fill the void created by Niklas Süle’s free transfer to Borussia Dortmund this summer. The Dutchman could also help stabilize record signing Hernández and provide an upgrade to Dayot Upamecano.

In fact, medium-term, De Ligt might even be the Upamecano replacement. Upamecano recently switched agencies from Sports 360 to Unique Sports Group, which has close ties to the PremierPINC
League. Industry sources suggested that an agency switch is always the first sign that a player thinks about a transfer.

A quick glance at Wyscout suggests that De Ligt is more of a Süle than a Upamecano replacement, even if the Dutchman lacks the German’s blistering speed and dribbling abilities. De Ligt and Süle won around 70% of their defensive duels last season. De Ligt, however, had more interceptions (4.09 vs 3.68) than Süle and also committed to more aerial duels (5.31 per 90 vs 1.92).

There are, however, some significant stylistic changes that underline De Ligt’s Dutch background. Whereas Süle managed to complete 78.91% of his long passes, De Ligt managed to complete 51.17%.

The long pass, mastered by Jérôme Boateng and Mats Hummels, is a typical German weapon, and it will be interesting to see whether De Ligt will work on that skill once at Bayern. Last season the Dutchman played just 4.35 long passes per 90 minutes—both Upamecano (7.46) and Süle (7.04) are significantly ahead in this category.

Even without that particular weapon in his toolset at the moment, De Ligt will provide a significant upgrade to Bayern’s current defense. The Dutchman is still only 22 and remains an immense talent. Furthermore, Bayern’s possession-based game and Ajaxification of the game, which Louis van Gaal first introduced, will provide De Ligt with a familiarity that will help his game.

Those last two points, in particular, might have underlined his decision to reject a move to Chelsea. This is a World Cup year, and Nagelsmann and Bayern are set to provide stability, the ability to win titles, and familiarity to a player looking to take the next step in his career.

Manuel Veth is the host of the Bundesliga Gegenpressing Podcast and the Area Manager USA at Transfermarkt. He has also been published in the Guardian, Newsweek, Howler, Pro Soccer USA, and several other outlets. Follow him on Twitter: @ManuelVeth