Matthijs de Ligt

He will probably prioritise game time over future opportunity at this stage of his career so I'm not sure we ever had much of a chance with this one..imo
 


€60m/£52.5m bid apparently.

Kompany, Otamendi, Stones, Laporte...something has to give or is this just confirmation that we're switching to 3 at the back in which case 5 players for 3 positions will be okay.

I think the former.
 


€60m/£52.5m bid apparently.

Kompany, Otamendi, Stones, Laporte...something has to give or is this just confirmation that we're switching to 3 at the back in which case 5 players for 3 positions will be okay.

I think the former.


I think Pep’s plan is the back three.

We would have played with it much more prominently last season had Mendy not got injured.

It was the formation we played mostly with in pre-season as well if I recall.

Either that or I have a feeling Vinny will be player-coach next season with Arteta likely off to Arsenal.
 
Incredible money for someone that young and has only played in the Eredivisie.
 
I think Pep’s plan is the back three.

We would have played with it much more prominently last season had Mendy not got injured.

It was the formation we played mostly with in pre-season as well if I recall.

Either that or I have a feeling Vinny will be player-coach next season with Arteta likely off to Arsenal.
Or we loan them back to buy a year of experience and to decide which centre half to let go.
 
If we sign him, Jorginho and say Mahrez we will have this squad ( and this is without Iniesta as player coach )

EDERSON
BRAVO
HART
MURIC
WALKER
DANILLO
MENDY
ZINCHENKO
DELPH
MANGALA
DE LIGT
DENAYER
TOSIN
OTAMENDI
KOMPANY
LAPORTE
STONES
ANGELINO
GUNDY
DINHO
JORGINHO
KDB
MERLIN
BERNARDO
A GARCIA
D LUIZ
SANE
MAHREZ
ROBERTS
STERLING
AGUERO
JESUS
FODEN
BRAHIM
NMECHA
CELINA
M GARCIA

Even if we take away the players on loan and Mangala the squad is way too big .....5 first choice centerbacks ?
 
Is this guy really that good, like £60m good at age 18? Better than signing Alderweireld for example? It's a lot to spend on a kid when we already have four top class centre backs, two of whom are only early 20s themselves and we need another striker and a defensive midfielder.

Isn't it more likely he'll be on loan at Celtic this time next year, or worse, turn out to be another Mangala?

Or is he genuinely the Mbappe of defenders and likely to become a Baresi-level defender?
 
Over £50m for an 18 year old defender?!

I’m no football aficionado but I hadn’t even heard of De Ligt until we were linked with him.

I think our primarily focus should be on getting Jorginho and someone like Bailey or Mahrez in.

We seem to have a proclivity to spend exorbitant amounts on centre backs. Of those we’ve purchased, I would say only Otamendi and Kolo have proven to be good value for money thus far. Nastasic, Boateng, Savic, Mangala and Rodwell all flopped. Lescott was decent but grossly overpriced, and the jury is still out on Stones and Laporte.
 

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