Barcelona & Man City target De Ligt advised to join Liverpool
Former Dutch international René van der Gijp has today revealed his opinion that in-demand Ajax starlet Matthijs De Ligt should make the move to Liverpool this summer.
Ajax standout
De Ligt, a 19-year-old central defender, is widely regarded as one of, if not the most-gifted young talent in world football, with the prodigious stopper having already established himself as an ever-present in Ajax’s first-team, and racked up 13 caps for the Netherlands.
De Ligt’s combination of physique, athleticism, aggression, reading of the game and ability with the ball make him the ideal modern centre-half, with his immense talent summed up by the fact that the Dutchman was named as both Ajax’s youngest ever captain, and the first ever defender to win the Golden Boy award last year.
| GOAL! |
There’s a reason Matthijs de Ligt has plenty of suitors around Europe’s big leagues…
He’s just put Ajax 3-1 up with this… ? pic.twitter.com/CEQ8PxCwAx
— Eleven Sports (@ElevenSports_UK) December 2, 2018
?️♂️ #UCL Scout:
⚪️ Youngest Ajax captain in history ✔️
? Youngest player ever to start in a European final ✔️
⚪️ First defender to win Golden Boy award ✔️?? Matthijs de Ligt in 2016: “My goal is to someday play in the ArenA on a weekly basis.” ? pic.twitter.com/DZOSO9qC1x
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) January 22, 2019
Barcelona favourites?
As such, it has come as little surprise to see more-or-less all of European football’s top clubs named as admirers of De Ligt’s talents.
Of the clubs to have been touted as potential destinations for the gifted teen, Barcelona, Manchester City and Juventus have been the most heavily-linked, with the favourites to actually secure a deal for the stopper seemingly changing by the hour.
Incredibly, less than 24 hours after it had been claimed that De Ligt himself wants to join fellow Ajax youngster Frenkie De Jong at Barcelona at the end of the season, subsequent reports this afternoon have suggested that the Blaugrana look likely to drop out of the race for the Dutch international.
Frenkie de Jong in action during the UEFA Champions League third-round qualifying match between Ajax and Standard Liege. (Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images)
‘Great for Dutch football’
However, it is another club altogether that De Ligt has this afternoon been urged to join by fellow countryman René van der Gijp.
Speaking in an interview with Voetbal Primeur, former PSV star van der Gijp revealed his opinion that De Ligt would be best served joining forces with Dutch international teammate Virgil Van Dijk at Liverpool, in a bid to form ‘the best centre-back pairing in Europe’:
‘It would be great for Dutch football if those two can play alongside each other for five to six years.’
‘Then you are getting the best centre-back pairing in Europe.’
Rene van der Gijp (On pairing up Van Dijk & De Ligt at #LFC): “It would be great for Dutch football if those two defenders can play alongside each other for five to six years. Then you are getting the best centre-back pairing in Europe.”
Via: @VoetbalPrimeur pic.twitter.com/PCPatZ0bOY
— LFC Transfer Room (@LFCTransferRoom) February 15, 2019
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