FC Bayern Munich has a new defense chief: Matthijs de Ligt is moving from Turin to Munich. Bayern have now confirmed the top transfer. The Dutchman is the second most expensive purchase in the club’s history.
Now it’s official: As expected, the German record champions announced the signing of Dutch international Matthijs de Ligt on Tuesday. The 22-year-old comes from Juventus Turin for a fee of 67 million euros plus up to ten million in bonuses, only for Lucas Hernandez Bayern paid even more in 2019. De Ligt signed until 2027.
“I’m very happy to be a player in this big club. Right from the start I felt the honest appreciation of the sporting leadership, the coach, and the board, that convinced me,” said de Ligt, on Tuesday afternoon before the official announcement boarded a plane after the transfer and followed his new team to the United States.
De Ligt is Bayern’s new chief of defense
With the commitment of the Dutch national player, the German soccer record champion closes one of his biggest construction sites. The defense was seldom solid last season and was the problem child of coach Julian Nagelsmann’s team.
With de Ligt, he finally has the defense chief he wanted and in his second year in Munich he also has more tactical options to meet the demands of the club management (“we are condemned to success”). That had increased the pressure on the coach after “only” the championship title had jumped out in the past season. On the other hand, there was the debacle in the DFB Cup (0:5 at Borussia Mönchengladbach) and the quarter-finals in the Champions League against FC Villarreal.
Chief role and more tactical variants
With de Ligt, Lucas Hernàndez, Dayot Upamecano, Benjamin Pavard and Tanguy Nianzou, there are now five professionals available for central defense, at least four of whom should meet international standards. The newcomer is scheduled to play the role of defense chief, which could never be properly filled after David Alaba moved to Real Madrid a year ago.
The club bosses apparently did not trust anyone in the previous squad to slip into this role. In addition, Niklas Süle left the club. For de Ligt this means: He will deliver immediately without a long period of adjustment and will have to keep the shop together at the back even when things are not going well.
Kahn praises de Ligt’s qualities: “Loud and present”
Last but not least, he proved that he can do that at Juve and in his country’s national team. Although he is only 22 years old, he is already considered to be very experienced. He made his debut in the Elftal at the age of 17 and has since played 38 times for Oranje.
His abilities are undisputed anyway: At 1.89 meters tall, he has a good measure for a defender, he can also play on the left and right central defender position and is familiar with the game in a back three and back four. Oliver Kahn says about him that he is “tall, strong in tackle and headers” and has a “very, very good build-up game”. De Ligt likes to lead, is loud and very present.
De Ligt enjoyed his football training at Ajax Amsterdam, which is known for its excellent football school. Incidentally, this also unites him with the two most recent Munich players, Ryan Gravenberch and Noussair Mazraoui.
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Source: BR24 Sports
07/18/2022 – 3:55 p.m
