During the summer of 2019, many expected Matthijs de Ligt to end up at Barcelona.
The Blaugrana have a historical knack for signing Dutch players, and they had already poached Frenkie de Jong from Ajax that summer.
Nevertheless, Juventus cooperated with Mino Raiola to secure the signature of the young defender.
However, the Catalans were never truly out of the picture. Throughout the last few months, several reports claimed that Barcelona are planning to swoop for de Ligt next summer.
But according to a Spanish report via TuttoJuve, the La Liga giants have changed their stance since the return of Xavi Hernandez.
The source believes that the legendary midfielder is trying to build a strong Spanish core at the Camp Nou,
Barca have already secured the signed of Ferran Torres and are now working to add Alvaro Morata to the mix.
Therefore, the Catalans could pursue another Manchester City star in Aymeric Laporte rather than Juve’s de Ligt.
Juve FC say
Whatever the reason might be, Juventus fans would surely breath a huge sigh of relief if the former Ajax captain stays at the Allianz Stadium for an extended period of time.
But of course we haven’t heard the end of it just yet.
Even if Barcelona were truly out of the picture (if the report is to be believed), there will be other sharks in the water – most notably in the Premier League.
I’m not sure why we should be concerned if De Ligt is sold. As long as it’s for a huge fee and management re-invests the funds from his sale on 2-3 class players, it could revitalise Juve just as it did when Buffon, Nedved and Thuram were brought in for Zidane (and De Ligt is no Zidane)