Barcelona wanted him, but in the end Matthijs de Ligt is signing for Juventus.
The 19-year-old is moving to Turin and there are several reasons why he didn't join his former Ajax teammate Frenkie de Jong at the Camp Nou.
1. His wages
Barcelona didn't want to reach the kind of salary being offered to the player by Juventus.
His agent Mino Raiola was asking for 12 million euros per year for his client and Barcelona said no.
2. Raiola's commission
It's never easy to deal with Raiola, especially when he wants a cut of the transfer fee, and the Catalan club weren't willing to pay the amount he was looking for.
3. There are already enough centre-backs
Barcelona weren't chasing De Ligt out of necessity, as they already have several options in that position with Gerard Pique, Clement Lenglet, Samuel Umtiti and Jean-Clair Todibo.
The fact they didn't absolutely need to sign a centre-back meant that they could ultimately say no to his and his agent's demands.
4. His room for improvement
The fact that some in the club felt that De Ligt still has several aspects of his game to improve on also led to his move elsewhere.
5. The player's desire
In the case of De Jong, he was very keen to come to Barcelona and all those at the club were enthused by his eagerness.
De Ligt, on the other hand, wasn't as committed to the idea of joining Barcelona, and ultimately didn't.
6. The potential Neymar signing
There's not enough money to sign everyone, so the fact that the possibility to sign Neymar has arisen also halted Barcelona's pursuit of the Dutchman.
7. Juventus' perseverance
The 2018 Golden Boy award was given out to the defender in Turin and that was when the first contact was made.
From there, Juventus have been persistent and, ultimately, they got their man.
naelkayyali
160
it has nothing to do with Neymar cause Neymar situation was a play from Barcelona . simply Barcelona we'll never ever buy 19 year old boy 12 ml salary and pay Riola 5 ml commission never. not Barcelona not Liverpool or even man United . but Juventus did it for stupidity reasons . and they we'll regret this season . the way Atlatico we'll regret for Felix the cat😁
MobePoku
91
What annoys me is that Juventus and Ronaldo fans think the boy chose Juventus ahead of Barcelona. What they don't know is that Barcelona never seriously needed him. They actually rejected him.
shray_srivastava
67
Well Juventus have ultimately embarrassed themselves, they agreed to put a release clause of €150m in his contract which no other big club would, not even PSG agreed to it, it's an indirect message to Juventus that De ligt is just there for a couple of seasons & his aim ahead is to join a bigger club than Juventus. That's shambolic, don't really understand how Juventus agreed in this.
edenvanilla
63
1.barca has many centre backs but they are very useless 2.i wonder why a club like barca is complaining about financial constraints 3.they didn't want him, if they wanted, they would have put in much enough.. 4.Juventus is a more better club for him than barca
Mosanya
58
I think de Ligt made the right decision joining Juventus over Barca, he will get playing time but here at Barca it will be more difficult amd challenging for him, Barca have enough center backs and talented defenders in the la masia who are young, I don't think spending huge money on de Ligt would be helpful, he is a talented player, he is strong, energetic, charismatic and young and will play for the black and white team for a long time, good luck de ligt.
John8732
46
Personally I think Barça needed him but his demands were too high and with the opportunity to get Neymar and Griezmann and possibly in the future to sign him because now Pique is still one of the best I think as long as Neymar comes through it worked out well for all sides