Lothar Matthaus has hailed Matthijs de Ligt as one of the best defenders in Europe, and he admits that the Dutchman will make his former club, Bayern Munich, much better than it is now.

De Ligt wants to leave Juventus this summer after refusing to sign a contract extension.

Chelsea looked in pole position to add him to their squad earlier in the summer, but Bayern has joined the race and accelerated past the Blues.

It seems almost certain he will play in the Bundesliga next season and Matthaus believes he is the defence leader Bayern has been longing for.

He said, as quoted by Calciomercato:

“He is a Van Dijk-type player, who can become Bayern’s defence leader as he is currently missing. He is one of the best centre-backs in Europe and is just 22 years old, with a player like that the club would be calm for many years. If it were to materialize, it would be a super transfer, a great gain for Bayern.”

Juve FC Says

De Ligt is one of the finest defenders in the world and he will make us a stronger team if he stays.

However, you cannot force anyone to remain in your team if they want to leave, so it is best that we offload him now.

The former Ajax man will fetch us some good money and we can use that to sign a replacement.