Juventus should be the team to outbid PSG for Matthijs de Ligt

By John Vaccaro | Jun 14, 2019

TURIN, ITALY - APRIL 16: Matthijs de Ligt of Ajax celebrates victory after the UEFA Champions League Quarter Final second leg match between Juventus and Ajax at Allianz Stadium on April 16, 2019 in Turin, Italy. (Photo by Michael Steele/Getty Images) /

Paris Saint-Germain appeared to become the frontrunner to land Matthijs de Ligt this week when they offered Ajax 75 million euros for their 19-year-old captain.

The 12 million euro per year salary that ESPN reported they offered de Ligt seemed like it would be plenty to seal the deal for the French club, but a report came out stating the de Ligt and his agent were still waiting to see if any other clubs would beat the offer.

There are very few teams in the world that are capable of beating this offer, but there is one who absolutely should beat it. That team is Juventus.

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There are a few reasons why Juve should be willing to do whatever it takes to land the talented Dutchman. The most important reason is that we got a glimpse into the future of Juve’s defence when Giorgio Chiellini was injured and that future looked bleak.

Daniele Rugani has never managed to get even close to reaching the potential Juve and many others saw in him when they signed him. Unfortunately for Juventus, he is just about the only option they currently have on the roster who is younger than 32.

Juventus has made moves to sign Merih Demiral and Cristian Romero, but both players will be returning to their respective clubs on loans for the next season. Putting the future of the defence in the hands of two players who have only ever played for mid-table and bottom of the table teams and have no European experience seems like a gamble Juventus shouldn’t be willing to take.

Bringing in an established stud like de Ligt to take over one centre back spot while the other two fight it out for the second spot would help give Juve fans some peace of mind as the team transitions away from one of the centrepieces of the team.

Both of these players leaving on loan also presents another problem for Juventus. These transfers do absolutely nothing to fix Juve’s defence for next season. Last season was Juve’s worst defensive season since their abysmal 2010-11 season.

That is in spite of the fact that Giorgio Chiellini still appeared to be at the top of his game when he was healthy. Chiellini will be 35 when the next season starts and it is not only likely that we will start to see him decline at some point in the near future, but also that he will be unable to starts as regularly as Juve fans are used to. Chiellini beginning to show his age wouldn’t be such a problem for Juve if they had a suitable replacement in place for next season.

This team is also going to need a leader once Chiellini is ready to take a step back or to outright

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retire. When Chiellini was unavailable this season we usually saw one of Bonucci, Paulo Dybala, or Mario Mandzukic wearing the captain’s armband. Dybala and Mandzukic might both not be a part of the squad next season and Bonucci shouldn’t ever captain this team after the way he left last season.

On the other hand, Matthijs de Ligt has proven that he can lead a team deep into the Champions League and is young enough that Juve could count on him as a leader long after Chiellini is gone.

It may seem unlikely that Juventus would be able to make such an expensive move while also pursuing reinforcements in the midfield, but there is a clear path to Juve being able to make this move.

All they need to do is finally sell Paulo Dybala. The transfer fee Juve would receive for Dybala would be plenty to cover the transfer of de Ligt and it would solve another problem Juve is currently facing.

With a new manager coming in (likely Maurizio Sarri) the last thing they can afford to have is a disgruntled star for the new manager to deal with. We saw last season that Dybala simply doesn’t fit at Juve in the 4-3-3 or with Ronaldo on the field.

Juve trading in the last young star they made a big investment in to bring in a new young star would be the perfect way for them to reinforce an area of need while also making life easier for the incoming manager.

Next. Chelsea: Maurizio Sarri receives big money offer from Juventus. dark

Getting into a bidding war with PSG might seem foolish, but if there were ever a time that it was worth it, it would be right now.