4 months ago
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Manchester United have told Bayern Munich that they will not meet their asking price for Matthijs de Ligt, according to reports.
United are looking to sign a new central defender this summer following the departure of Raphael Varane and have already had a £45 million bid turned down by Everton for Jarrad Branthwaite this month.
Everton are understood to be holding out for a deal in excess of £70m for Branthwaite, who is United’s top target for the position.
However, United are also exploring alternative options and De Ligt is among the names on their shortlist.
According to Bild’s Christian Falk in his column for CaughtOffside, Bayern are holding out for a €70 million (£59.3m) deal for De Ligt this summer.
But United have indicated that they are only prepared to pay half of that figure, around €35m (£29.6m), for the 24-year-old.
Meanwhile, Sky Germany reported earlier this month that Bayern would accept a fee closer to €50 million (£42m) from United, who are working with a restricted budget in the summer window.
It’s understood that Erik ten Hag remains a huge admirer of De Ligt having worked with the defender for just over one season at Ajax.
Bayern spent €77m (£65.6m) on signing De Ligt from Juventus in July 2022 but he has struggled with injuries during his time in Germany. Last season, he started just 16 games in the Bundesliga.
Asked about his future at Bayern earlier this month De Ligt, who is with the Netherlands squad for Euro 2024, said: ‘I’ve already said this is not the time for me to think about it.
‘We’re playing at the Euros now and that’s very important for me and the national team. That’s why I can’t say now what I think about this situation.
‘But what I can say is that I’ve now played my second season at Bayern – I’m very happy. For now I’m focused on the Euros and then we’ll see what happens.’
Bayern, meanwhile, are already targeting at least one new centre-back this summer and are in talks to sign Jonathan Tah from Bayer Leverkusen.
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