Chelsea may have just leapfrogged Tottenham in the pursuit of Juventus center-back. Both the English clubs are interested in signing the Italian club’s Matthijs de Ligt. Moreover, Juventus have named their demands if anyone wants to buy De Ligt. It is understood that the demands have placed Chelsea ahead of Tottenham. However, Chelsea won’t have it easy either if they are to lure De Ligt to Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea are in desperate need of defenders in the upcoming summer transfer window. The Blues could lose two of their starting center-backs in Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen. Both have their contracts till the summer and are looking for an exit. Moreover, Christensen has reportedly signed a pre-agreement with FC Barcelona as well.
Therefore, it is quite understandable that they need a center-back. As far as Tottenham are concerned, they are already facing a shortage in their squad depth. As a result, Tottenham joined Chelsea in tracking De Ligt from Juventus. But it seems, Chelsea are the frontrunners after Juventus make their wish clear.
Juventus’ demand has put Chelsea ahead of Tottenham
Chelsea have a long list of targets ready to reinforce their defence. Furthermore, the Blues have readied finances as well. Tottenham, on the other hand, are low on budget and high on dreams. But Juventus have quashed all of Tottenham’s dreams with their new move. The Bianconeri want a mammoth fee of £100 million for De Ligt.
According to Tuttosport (via CalcioMercto), Juventus are well aware that clubs like FC Barcelona, PSG, and Bayern Munich are all in line to sign the Netherlands ace. Now add to that Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur. As a result, the Serie A club wants the potential buyer to trigger Di Ligt’s release clause of £100 million. This demand itself puts Tottenham behind Chelsea in the race of Matthijs de Ligt.
De Ligt joined Juventus in 2019 for a fee of £80 million from Ajax. However, his time at Juventus turned out to be a ‘not-so-exciting’ one. The youngster often found himself on the bench, as deputy to Chiellini and Bonucci. Moreover, injuries hampered his development at Juventus as well. De Ligt has so far made 111 appearances for the Old Lady in his two-and-a-half years at the club.
However, as per Tuttosport, Juventus want to keep De Ligt at the club at all costs. But if a club, like Chelsea come calling and pay the defender’s release clause, Juventus would be helpless in that situation. Now Tottenham are interested as well along with Chelsea. Spurs’ manager Antonio Conte and Fabio Paratici are said to be fans of De Ligt and want them in their team.
But as per the new demands, De Ligt to Tottenham should rather be a wild fantasy than a reality. De Ligt is out of Tottenham’s both financial as well as player profile leagues. Chelsea meanwhile can secure the funds required to sign De Ligt. Tottenham should consider themselves out of the race to sign De Ligt if Chelsea have taken up the interest. The North Londoners should now turn their attention to other viable targets.
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