Transfer News: Chelsea face competition from Manchester City for Matthijs de Ligt
According to Calciomercato (h/t Football.London), Chelsea will face competition from their fellow Premier League rivals Manchester City for highly-rated defender Matthijs de Ligt.
The Juventus star feels that he is not in the plans of coach Massimiliano Allegri as he has got limited playtime this season. The Dutch centre-back has played 662 minutes across 12 games in all competitions this season.
The Blues and The Citizens are first and second respectively on the Premier League table and the hallmark of both teams’ current campaigns has been their rock-solid defences. Chelsea have conceded just four goals in the league thus far. City aren’t far behind, shipping just six.
That has, however, not stopped them from pursuing Juventus and Netherlands ace De Ligt.
The west Londoners may be more in need of signing a defender keeping in mind the current contract situation of their three defenders. Antonio Rudiger, Andreas Christensen and Thiago Silva all have contracts that are set to expire at the end of the season and it remains unclear as to whether all three will stay at the club beyond that mark.
However, the same report (h/t Football.London) also claims that Pep Guardiola is keen on selling Nathan Ake next summer and replacing him with De Ligt, who the Spaniard admires.
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The Dutch superstar has entered his third season at the Italian giants, after joining from Ajax in the summer of 2019 and any move for him will cost a massive €150million as per his release clause. Bianconeri paid around €75m in initial fees to sign him and will make a good profit from his sale if a club meets that asking price.
