De Ligt to Man Utd: THOUSANDS of fans sign petition against transfer

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 3 Jul 2024 11:09 BST
• 4 min read

Bayern Munich fans are furious at the prospect of losing Matthijs de Ligt to Manchester United, with more than 7000 supporters signing a petition against the transfer.

Man Utd are in talks to sign the Bayern Munich defender and the feeling is there is a good chance of the transfer going through.

However, news of these negotiations has not gone down well with a large portion of the Bayern Munich fanbase.

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A change.org petition started by Bayern fans demanding that De Ligt is not sold has now received more than 7000 signatures, as reported by the Manchester Evening News.

"We all want Matthijs de Ligt to stay at FC Bayern Munich," the petition read.

"He has proven that he‘s a world class defender, probably the best in our squad. There is a reason why he was elected as our best player in the 2022/23 season.

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"Furthermore he is only 24 years old and has a bright future ahead, which he is going to use to fulfil his huge potential. Despite his young age, Mattha is already very mature and has a great mentality which will definitely make him a leading figure in defence and probably a competitor for captaincy in some years. His ability to speak English, German and Dutch fluently would help him a lot for that. With 19 years he already brought Ajax Amsterdam to the UCL semi-finals as captain.

"Selling Matthijs de Ligt would be an absolutely horrible decision and we would definitely regret it. That‘s why we use our voice to call attention that we will NOT make this mistake!"

So far the petition has had no impact on Bayern’s decision as negotiations continue for a sale.

Will Man Utd signing De Ligt?

Man Utd are in the market for at least one top centre-back in 2024 as a number of their current central defenders are leaving this summer.

Raphael Varane and Jonny Evans have departed on free transfers, while Victor Lindelof and Harry Maguire’s futures are not secure.

United have been in talks to sign Everton’s Jarrad Branthwaite for several weeks, although his high price tag has been a problem.

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.

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