Man Utd start 'internal discussions' for €50m Ten Hag reunion

Robin Bairner

15 Jun 2024 08:20 BST
3 min read

Manchester United have started talks over the possibility of moving for Bayern Munich defender Matthijs de Ligt.

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The Old Trafford club are known to be targeting reinforcements in the middle of their rearguard this summer, with transfer rumours indicating that Netherlands international De Ligt is one of the players they could move for.

Man Utd’s interest in the 24-year-old has been confirmed, although the Old Trafford side are still in the early stages of working out a deal.

According to Sky Sports Deutschland’s Florian Plettenberg: “Manchester United have started internal discussions about a potential move for De Ligt. The 24-year-old is on the list primarily because of Erik ten Hag

“There have not yet been any concrete moves from Man Utd. The club is in the process of gathering more information about De Ligt and the possibility of him leaving Bayern in summer.

“However, the current price expectation from Man Utd for De Ligt is around €50m.”

United’s price is in line with the current Estimated Transfer Value for the player, which stands at €50.6m. This has fallen away from a peak of over €80m earlier in his career and suggests that his full potential is not being exploited at the Allianz Arena.

Previously Ten Hag worked with De Ligt at Ajax. Indeed, he was the first coach to give him regular game time and laid the foundation for his €75m move to Juventus.

Meanwhile, FootballTransfers has revealed that United are advanced in a move to sign Jarrad Branthwaite from Everton in a much-anticipated deal. This will be completed by the end of the month.

Big Ten Hag signal

The other key thing in the report is the indication that Ten Hag is still having a clear impact on transfer policy at Old Trafford – something it is thought he would lose when Jason Wilcox arrived as the new director of sport.

It had been claimed that Ten Hag has made a demand of the Man Utd board that if he is to sign a new contract, he will retain primary control over deals. This would seem to fly in the face of what new owners Ineos have been trying to achieve with their recent overhaul at the club, yet it seems he may just get his way.