The Liga and Serie A champions-elect are both interested in the Ajax defender, but Barça are in pole position leaving Juve the option of signing the France defender instead, says AS.
Both Barcelona and Juventus are keen to sign Ajax youngster Matthijs de Ligt this summer but the Netherlands international appears to be a lot closer to Camp Nou than Turin, given Barça’s long Dutch heritage and the arrival of his current teammate Frenkie de Jong next season.
That has led Juventus to come up with a plan to cover their own defensive requirements with Andrea Barzagli deciding this weekend to retire at the end of 2018-19. According to Rai Sport, the Serie A champions are willing to pull out of the running for De Ligt to avoid a bidding war and will negotiate separately with Barça for Samuel Umtiti.
Barça will listen to Juve offer for Umtiti for a clear run at De Ligt
The Italian media outlet reports that Juve sporting director Fabio Paratici has been in touch with Barça about the proposal and the Italian side are expected to face little reluctance from the Camp Nou board with Gerard Piqué, Clément Lenglet, Thomas Vermaelen and Jean-Clair Todibo providing a blend of youth and experience in the central defensive positions.
However, Barcelona are unlikely to simply hand Umtiti over and Juve may have to go as high as 80 million euros for the 25-year-old, who the International Centre for Sports Studies consider to be the highest-value defender in world football.
Ajax coach Erik ten Hag also threw the name of Bayern Munich into the mix recently, stating that he was sure De Ligt would leave in the summer but it was unclear whether his destination would be Barcelona or Bavaria.
ZaynAhmed
283
De ligt definitely would great signing but we should sell some defenders for room.Umtiti is very good defender we all know but after came from injury he is little out of form and also Lenglet is now our main Left centre back so umtiti departure he can handle easily now we all need piques perfect replacement who have leadership and de light have this quality.So we should leave umtiti and wait for De ligt.
Abbawaziri
234
Ajax has been barcalona’s private academy😉.
Zotabkmo
207
One thing Barca should consider is that Umtiti is a world class and i dont think selling him would benefit us. de ligt is suppose the pique replacement and not the umtiti successor bearing in mind that de ligt is right footed umtiti is a left footer so why sell him pique should retire else were our center backs for the 2020-21 should be umtiti and de ligt lenglet should be an alternative to umtiti and todibo the alternative to de ligt ... barca president think twice together with your sporting director abidal
Longlife2000
137
Umtiti is not for sale. Umtiti is not going anywhere. It will not be good on the part of Barça if Umtiti is on the transfer market. Why are human beings haven short memory. Can't you come to think of that, last two season he was the heart of our defense because injury deformed him, everyone wants him to be sold. I can't imagine how peoples are so heartless. It will not be fair to treat him like that. Juventus should better remove their interest in Umtiti because he is going nowhere. He will remain in Barça and fight for his position.
SeriesA
87
This shows that most of the Juve's player are not fit in Barca. Barca's odd ones are likely to play in Juventus but people thinks Ronaldo would compete with his average team mates. What a funny world we live in.
blankie
61
Umtiti is staying at Barca! He is a loyal citizen of FC Barcelona! 😊 De Ligt will come to Barcelona! 😇 But, Umtiti MUST stay! Se Queda..🙏