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Manchester United are interested in signing Matthijs de Ligt this summer - with the defender struggling for minutes at Bayern Munich.
De Ligt, 24, is one of Europe's most exciting centre-backs, having completed impressive spells with Ajax and Juventus. He left the latter club in July 2022 after Bayern stumped up an initial €67million (£57.5m) for his services, but he could be on the move again.
The Netherlands international has played just 366 minutes of Bundesliga football this season after falling down the pecking order at Bayern under Thomas Tuchel. The former Chelsea boss prefers Kim Min-jae and Dayot Upamecano at the heart of his defence.
Tuchel has also just signed Eric Dier from Tottenham and wants to bring Kieran Tripper, a right-back, to Bavaria in January. De Ligt wants to play regular first-team football and may quit Bayern if Tuchel can't offer that, putting United on red alert.
As reported by Sky in Germany, United are monitoring De Ligt's situation closely and may swoop if he decides to leave Bayern. De Ligt, who has three-and-a-half years left on his contract, played under Erik ten Hag during their time together at Ajax.
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United have been interested in signing De Ligt before. They considered a move for him in the summer of 2018 when Jose Mourinho was in charge, but scout Marcel Bout persuaded them to look elsewhere because he was concerned about the player's weight.
As exclusively revealed by Mirror Football in May 2019, Bout was worried about De Ligt's natural physique and thought he would pile on the pounds later in his career. Mourinho was left without a top-class centre-back and was sacked a few months later.
De Ligt could leave Bayern Munich this summer (Getty Images)Do you think Manchester United should sign Matthijs de Ligt? Let us know in the comments below!
United eventually signed a centre-back in July 2019, as Harry Maguire arrived from Leicester in an £80m deal and De Ligt left Ajax for Juventus. Maguire, 30, could now leave Old Trafford in the summer and be replaced by De Ligt if a suitor comes calling.
De Ligt graduated from Ajax's academy and started their 2-0 defeat to United, of all clubs, in the 2017 Europa League final. By doing so, he became the youngest player to appear in a major European final at the age of 17 years and 285 days.
In March 2018, at the age of just 18, Ten Hag appointed him as Ajax's youngest ever captain. He won the Golden Boy award in 2018 as Europe's best young player and helped Ajax win a domestic double in 2019 before completing a €75m (£64.4m) switch to Juventus.
De Ligt won the Serie A title, Italian Cup and Italian Super Cup at Juventus before joining Bayern. He's since won the Bundesliga title and German Super Cup. Signing the player would be a huge coup for United, who are seventh in the Premier League table.
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