Matthijs De Ligt is claimed to be reluctant to sign a new deal with Juventus, but that he will push for a reduced minimum release clause if he does.

With just two years remaining on the Dutchman’s contract, we cannot afford to rest on our laurels on the situation, and we aren’t exactly in the financial position at present to be considering allowing his contract to run down into it’s final year.

That means we need to find some traction on a new deal in the next year, or we could well be forced into considering his exit, and even worse, consider it for considerably less than we paid for him.

I firmly believe that De Ligt was worth every penny that we paid to land him from Ajax, but fear that our recent struggles have dampened his love for playing in the black and white. If he shows an unwillingness to extend his contract this summer, as TuttoJuve is claiming, we may well have to consider allowing him to leave, or maybe we could meet in the middle and agree a fair release clause in a new deal which we wouldn’t be too put out by.

Does it look like we are set to have our hand forced on the issue?

Patrick