It's weird considering his age and profile. With Maguire and Varane turning 30 in the upcoming season, this is the type of long term investment you should make as a club if you want to rebuild properly and sort things out for the next five to ten years,
More so because Ten Hag worked with him before and it was sucessful. If he truly had carte blanche this summer I'd see no reason why he wouldn't very much want to add De Ligt to the squad, so it really is strange. Maybe it is a budget thing after all with us this year, but that makes no logical sense given De Ligt's age and the longevity of an investment like this. Wait another summer for a CB and we might get desperate and some midtable club will fleece us again for the next Harry Maguire.
If he goes to Bayern it's a fantastic transfer for them, and again a perfect example of them being a model club, making the exact right investments at the right time.