‘Shame’ De Ligt to Bayern talks broke down, says Raiola

Robin Bairner

11 Dec 2021 22:02 GMT
3 min read

Matthijs de Ligt, Juventus, 2021/22 — © ProShots

Matthijs de Ligt’s agent Mino Raiola is likely to find himself in hot water with Juventus after appearing to suggest that the defender would have been better off going to Bayern Munich.

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Juve signed De Ligt from Ajax for €75 million in the summer of 2019 following the stirring run of the Amsterdam club to the Champions League semi-finals.

Although the Dutchman initially struggled to settle at Juventus, enduring some tough weeks after he arrived at the club, he remains regarded as one of the best central defenders in the world.

Nevertheless, there is a perception that he has perhaps not achieved his potential.

Raiola certainly appeared to hint that this is his belief in an interview with Sport1.

“Do you actually know that we almost brought De Ligt to Munich? For Matthijs to FC Bayern we were in very good talks, it was a serious possibility. It's a shame it didn't work out in the end,” he said.

Juventus are unlikely to be enamoured with such disparaging comments.

Raiola in the spotlight

Raiola has already found himself in the spotlight this week due to comments he made regarding another of his clients, Borussia Dortmund striker Erling Haaland.

The agent seemed to narrow down the Norway international’s future destinations, notably omitting Manchester United from the “big clubs” he suggested that the hitman could move to.

Raiola hastily backtracked on these comments, however, and insisted that Haaland remains focused on his challenge at Dortmund.

© ProShots - Erling Haaland is another Mino Raiola client

This is certainly not the first time the representative has been involved in such a misunderstanding. A year ago, Raiola suggested that Paul Pogba was ready to leave Manchester United, though a move from the Premier League club has not materialised and the World Cup winning midfielder’s future remains the subject of much conjecture.

This episode with De Ligt, then, is just the latest of a string of minor controversies to bring the agent and his clients into the public eye.