Transfer News : Matthias de Ligt to City?

Matthijs de Ligt: Dutch Delight?

In any transfer story there are always a number of key individuals, a complicated plot – some of which may be based on fact and the rest of which may be conjecture. In this story all of these key features are present and looming large over the proceedings is one of these individuals, who to all intents and purposes seems to want the whole world to see him as some kind of pantomime villain. So in our story its probably time to introduce Mino Raiola, Soccer agent and professional baddie. May be time to get the children to hide behind the sofa and pour yourself a stiff drink.

Matthijs de Ligt is a young Dutch professional footballer who has been brought through the Ajax academy. At age 19 he has made over 50 appearances in the Dutch League, earning plaudits as a confident and comfortable ball playing Centre Back. He is 6 foot 2 inches tall so presents a fairly imposing physical presence in any side. He is under contract at Ajax until 30 June 2021, so on the face of it at least – all the cards are held by Ajax in deciding whether to keep or sell the player.

Any young players turning in confident performances and showing signs of quality soon start to attract the bigger fish. In this case Mino Raiola has relatively recently secured the services of de Ligt and coincidentally there have been increasing numbers of stories in the European Press seemingly suggesting interest in signing de Ligt from a number of clubs – all of which seem to have some strong links to Raiola. These interested clubs are Juventus, Barcelona and Manchester United.

English Press have more recently started to consider de Ligt for Manchester City as a possibility – partly because he appears to be the kind of footballing centre back which Guardiola seems to want to surround his team with. Now I am unsure if in the next 2 transfer windows whether another Centre back is really a priority for Manchester City. We already have Laporte and Stones, alongside Kompany and Otamendi. In addition we have 2 younger players in the academy – Sandler and Garcia, both of whom are earmarked for the first team.

So its unclear as to what the transfer strategy of Manchester City may be at this time with regards Centre Backs. Are we stockpiling and stopping a strong player going to the opposition? Are we planning for the loss of Kompany at the end of the season? Is Otamendi on the move? Or are we at the mercy of and being used as a pawn in a game by Mino Raiola?

There is no love lost between Guardiola and Raiola, The mutual antipathy seems to have been played out largely in response to Guardiola’s treatment of Raiola’s clients at Barcelona like Zlatan Ibrahimovich. Raiola has chosen to follow a public path with his comments whilst Guardiola has so far largely kept his counsel. Of course Guardiola is not the only manager with whom Raiola has fallen foul of – notably Sir Alex Ferguson.

So what is going on?Is Raiola agitating a big money move for his client? That seems to be the case given some of the careful press stories which have appeared. Large transfers are often interlinked and this one is feeling already like it is part of a link in a chain – similar to a chain of house buyers involved in a house purchase. What we know is Paul Pogba is Raiola’s highest profile client and much of this chain feels dependent upon what happens to Pogba. Will he go to Barcelona because if he does then much of their transfer budget may be empty and they not be in a position for de Ligt, but Manchester United would be. That would be the ultimate double whammy for Raiola – where he makes money on every side of the deal.

But press are suggesting Manchester City have made an offer (or an enquiry) in the region of 60 million euros, which is certainly around the kind of figure de Ligt may be moving for. However I am left with the feeling de Ligt will not be coming to Manchester City and that we are instead part of a wider game being played. There are many that say the relationship between Raiola and Guardiola is so broken we will not entertain any player he represents. But that sounds like fan talk rather than hard business acumen. The truth is we are likely to strike a deal with anyone, to get the player we want. I would be surprised though if that player turns out to be de Ligt. He seems too similar to what we have already in place and coming through. So on that basis, I wouldn’t read too much into this particular transfer rumour – regardless of the source.