€50m reported fee 

©Imago/Content stadium

Now that Manchester United have settled on Erik ten Hag as their head coach for next season, the Old Trafford club will be keen to get to work on rebuilding their squad ahead of the new Premier League campaign. Although there were many factors behind the club’s dismal eighth-place finish last season, much can be attributed to the fact that Ten Hag’s side were ravaged by injuries and senior players simply no longer match expectations. 

One position that received more scrutiny than just about any other was central defence, where Ten Hag was forced to shuffle his pack and come up with creative solutions to serious problems. Long-term injuries to the likes of Raphaël Varane and Lisandro Martínez meant that 36-year-old Jonny Evans ended up making 23 appearances in the league last season. And following the departure of Varane, Ten Hag’s team now have just four senior central defenders in their squad ahead of the new season. As such, one of Man Utd’s most pressing concerns this summer will be the signing of a new top-quality player that can solve a number of their defensive problems. 

Man Utd consider move for De Ligt 

To no great surprise, the Old Trafford club have been linked with a number of central defenders, such as Jarrad Branthwaite, Gonçalo Inácio and Leny Yoro, but the leading candidate according to reports in England seems to be Bayern Munich star Matthijs de Ligt. According to Sky Sports, the Netherlands international is keen on a move to the Premier League and would be willing to swap Munich for Manchester. And, remarkably enough, Man Utd would apparently only have to pay a fee in the region of €50 million for De Ligt’s signature – which is not only considerably lower than the quoted prices for the aforementioned alternatives, but also remarkably cheap for a player of De Ligt’s quality. So why are Bayern so willing to let the Dutch defender leave?

Rumour
	M. de Ligt
	Centre-Back
Bayern Munich   57 % Man Utd Bundesliga Premier League

Why Bayern are willing to sell De Ligt

Following the arrival of new head coach Vincent Kompany, Bayern have seemingly gone through their squad and decided that they now have a surplus of central defenders. With Bayer Leverkusen star Jonathan Tah expected to join the club at some point and Stuttgart defender Hiroki Ito having already joined the Munich side, Kompany’s squad could end up having no less than seven senior central defenders on the books. And, as it would seem, De Ligt has been earmarked as one of the defenders that will be allowed to leave the club for a certain price. But why the Dutch international specifically? 

The most obvious reason is simply due to the fact that clubs want to sign De Ligt. In comparison to Dayot Upamecano, whose market value has steadily fallen in line with inconsistent performances since he joined the club for €42.5m in 2021, and Min-jae Kim, who struggled in his first season in the Bundesliga last time round, De Ligt is one of the few central defenders that came out of the last campaign with a handful of solid performances. And with a market value of €65m, De Ligt would almost certainly attract far more interest and a higher transfer fee than any attempt by Bayern to sell Upamecano or Kim in the summer window. 

There’s also a clear financial advantage to selling De Ligt too. The Dutch talent is reportedly Bayern’s best-paid defender, with the 24-year-old talent apparently earning up to €4m more per year than Kim and even more than Upamecano. So selling him to a Premier League side like Man Utd, who would be more than happy to take on such a wage, would allow Bayern to free up a large chunk of their wage bill to focus on other areas of their squad. Similarly, with the club’s reported plans to sign Crystal Palace winger Michael Olise and Paris Saint-Germain playmaker Xavi Simons this summer, Bayern clearly need to sell players before they can start spending untold fortunes in the transfer market. Despite being one of the richest clubs in the world, the Munich giants typically keep their spending in the window to a net spend of around €50m, which means if they’re set to fork out more than €100m for the aforementioned pair, a star leaving for a fee of around €50m or more makes perfect sense.