Matthijs de Ligt / signs for Juventus, lowering their average age to 56

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ti vu said:
I will disagree on the bolded part. Life usually doesn't go as plan.

De Ligt though has already been world class, in this climate of lack of truly elite CB, already among the best. Which is quite an achievement for his age. He is this generation Nesta to Mbappe as Ronaldo of this generation. Him maintaining this level when he moved to bigger club is sufficient enough. Improving and he's challenging for a position in all time great hall of fame.
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Tbh he has the potential to put himself in that frame if he continues this trajectory. He’d be playing against better opposition each week rather than on occasion which will only improve his reactions/physical stature. The big players never stopped improving - even someone such as Rio who was brilliant at all ages steadily improved each year.
 
If Barca get De Ligt this summer they will be very difficult to beat next year.
 
Bwuk said:
The Champions League. They’ll have the best young defender and midfielder in the world. Assuming they get a half decent front line they’ll be set.
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Well they're not exactly dominating that competition with the greatest player of all time so I don't think so
 
Supreme talent, no chance of us signing him. I think Barcelona will step up efforts to sign him after their shit show at Anfield.
 
Bastian said:
Better than Cannavaro, Nesta, Maldini?
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At 19, yes.

To be fair I didn't really see Maldini at that age but Nesta was early 20s before he became a really top player and Cannavaro was later still.
 
AshRK said:
How ironic we played them 2 years ago and yet none of our scouts (if we have any) thought of signing some of them. Probably it's good for them as Jose would not have played them much or they might not have developed this well, but still astounding we didn't raid these players much earlier.
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It’s madness.

They were right there in front of their face. They probably watched loads of videos on them also leading up to the final, yet we didn’t even attempt to sign one of them. It was clear to us all they were a very talented young team.

Go a step further and think we sold them Blind for £16m in that time, so the clubs were in contact and we could have easily asked for a part exchange or whatever.

Circus.
 
He's a generational talent. It could all go to shit quite easily as 19 is very young for a CB but I'd geniunely be surprised if he doesn't go down as one of the best CBs ever at the end of his career, that's how good he is.
 
AshRK said:
How ironic we played them 2 years ago and yet none of our scouts (if we have any) thought of signing some of them. Probably it's good for them as Jose would not have played them much or they might not have developed this well, but still astounding we didn't raid these players much earlier.
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Our scouts specifically wanted to sign them even before the Europa Final. Ed Woodward was against the move.

https://www.express.co.uk/sport/foo...nkie-de-Jong-Ed-Woodward-transfer-news-gossip
 
Maybe our scouts are watching week in week out unknown players like Dybala, Bale, Eriksen, Rakitic, Maguire, Kane, Varane, Umtiti...
De Ligt is really outstanding.
 
Can’t wrap my head around the fact that he’s 19. Plays like a 28 year old world class center back in his prime with 5 UCL seasons in a row behind in.
 
He'd be pointless for us in an attacking sense unless he proper loves knee high balls to the near post and a sprint back.
 
Re: Nesta. Before de Ligt he was the best young CB I had seen. As a pure defender he was even more impressive but de Ligt is better on the ball which counts for a lot. de Ligt is also developing into a cluch goal scorer for a CB, he is a teenager who has scored more goals than Nesta managed in his entire 20+ season career.
 
Nou_Camp99 said:
If Barca get De Ligt this summer they will be very difficult to beat next year.
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Username checks out.

I don’t know, Messi will be a year older, Arthur/De Jong still young, Suarez is on the decline, maybe Busquets too? Coutinho will probably be sold, Dembele is addicted to FIFA and so on. Barca is already one of the best teams in the world, I don’t think De Ligt will have that big of an impact and won’t sort out all of Barca’s «issues» or weaknesses if you’d like.
 
11101 said:
At 19, yes.

To be fair I didn't really see Maldini at that age but Nesta was early 20s before he became a really top player and Cannavaro was later still.
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If it's age for age comparison then De Ligt is clear winner. However, Nesta was every bit elite looking form the get go at senior level in his late teen. Remember Serie A was a best league back then. Team doesn't promote youth out of philosophy. Every result count and it's tough throwing a young defender against top attackers on regular basis under the pressure of getting result. De Ligt and Ajax has more breathing space for his development with Dutch league.

IrishRedDevil said:
It’s madness.

They were right there in front of their face. They probably watched loads of videos on them also leading up to the final, yet we didn’t even attempt to sign one of them. It was clear to us all they were a very talented young team.

Go a step further and think we sold them Blind for £16m in that time, so the clubs were in contact and we could have easily asked for a part exchange or whatever.

Circus.
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Even though I love to bash Woodward silly on things. This however is not the case. Firstly, Ajax could have easily decline any offer for De Ligt. Remember this same window, Ajax got stingy Levy to pay 40mil, Tottenham club record for Davidson. De Ligt fee would still cost a fortune, the CB version of Mbappe fee. Not even us can pay that for a player just broke through. Lastly, it's not like we were the forerunners, and everybody failed to notice this CB and all fall for his partner, Davidson. Other big clubs have kept him on radar all this time too.
 
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I’ve only seen him in CL + one game for Holland, but from what I’ve seen he’d be the second best center back in the league if he moves to PL, not far behind Van Dijk.
 
BeforeKeanetherewasRobson said:
Love the positivity.... just don't think splashing the cash is going to decide his next club (unfortunately).
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No, but two things in our favour...

We're Manchester United; and
We need a saviour.

Imagine being the player or one of the players, that is instrumental in getting us back on the rails. feck me nearly 30 years on and never a single word will has ever been uttered against Eric Cantona for that exact reason.
 
Rumour is that Liverpool are after him. De Ligt and Virgil? What a partnership. I don't think it will happen, though.
 
We’d have to pay Sanchez type wages again to even dream of enticing someone of his calibre this summer. Even that might not be enough.

So it’s not worth dreaming.
 
i hope he score four own goals in the next 45 minutes so nobody wants him beside us
 
mariachi-19 said:
No, but two things in our favour...

We're Manchester United; and
We need a saviour.

Imagine being the player or one of the players, that is instrumental in getting us back on the rails. feck me nearly 30 years on and never a single word will has ever been uttered against Eric Cantona for that exact reason.
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I agree and I'd love him here. The club should be saying "here's a shed-load of wages, you're captain, come and have a wonder around the ground.... we want you to be a legend here".

We can dream eh?
 
99% sure he competed in the boat race this year.
 
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