Matthijs de Ligt agrees personal terms with Man Utd

Carlo Garganese

• 14 Jul 2024 12:30 BST
• 3 min read

Bayern Munich defender Matthijs de Ligt is close to joining Manchester United after agreeing personal terms.

According to multiple sources on Sunday, including Nicolo Schira and Christopher Michel, De Ligt has agreed on a contract until 2029 at United. As with all United signings, there will be the option for a further year on top of that.

All that is required to complete the deal now is for Man Utd to agree on a transfer fee with Bayern Munich but that is not expected to be too much of a problem as the German club have put the centre back up for sale.

Man Utd have been in talks to sign the Bayern Munich defender for a number of weeks now.

READ MORE: Premier League summer transfers 2024 - All the Done Deals

Man Utd are in the market for at least one top centre-back this summer and are currently in talks with three different defenders in De Ligt, Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite and Lille’s Leny Yoro.

There will be a big revolution at centre back this summer. Raphael Varane and Jonny Evans have departed on free transfers, while Victor Lindelof and Harry Maguire’s futures are not secure.

Man Utd manager Erik ten Hag is a big fan of De Ligt having worked with him at Ajax.

During that time De Ligt emerged as arguably the most promising young centre back in Europe before signing for Juventus in the summer of 2019.

However, he never lived up to his potential at Juve, who sold him to Bayern Munich in 2022.

De Ligt signed a five-year contract in Bavaria that runs until 2027 but he has also struggled at times at Bayern.

Bayern to sell De Ligt

Bayern want to sell De Ligt as they are revolutionising their defence this summer after failing to win the Bundesliga in 2023-24.

Despite only being 24, De Ligt is already the most expensive defender in history in terms of combined transfer fees.

He has moved for a combined transfer fee of €152.5 million during his career.

Juventus signed De Ligt from Ajax for €85.5m in 2019 before he moved to Bayern Munich from Turin for €67m in 2022.

If De Ligt moves this summer his combined transfer fees will approach or even surpass the €200m mark.