3 months ago
35 In a strange quirk of fate, it would seem that former Liverpool great, Xabi Alonso, holds the key to Man United’s pursuit of Dutch warrior, Matthijs de Ligt.
It’s been a few weeks now since it became clear that de Ligt was surplus to requirements for Vincent Kompany at Bayern Munich, and with the Red Devils struggling in the centre of defence, a move for Erik ten Hag’s former captain at Ajax was a foregone conclusion.
However, any switch appears to be have been in limbo ever since, with no real positive updates to share since an initial leak to media outlets.
Man United still waiting for de Ligt
With over three weeks to go until the window closes, there’s still ample time for a deal to be done, but given that United’s 2024/25 Premier League campaign gets started in a week and a half, it’s a fair bet that ten Hag would’ve preferred to have had de Ligt in situ already.
The squad will already be working on patterns of play, positioning etc., and with De Ligt not part of that, clearly, United can’t progress as they would like.

For the player too, he would need to get used to a different way of playing, and that would be far easier to do with a few weeks on the training pitch rather than being thrown in at the deep end once the season has already begun.
The issue regarding the delay would appear to stem from Bayern’s move for Jonathan Tah also stalling.
?? As confirmed from all parties involved there’s NO total breakthrough in the negotiations between Leverkusen and Bayern about a permanent deal of
Jonathan #Tah yet. No total agreement between the clubs yet.
?? But the fact is that both sides are clear in the transfer fee,… pic.twitter.com/euOMnvKBIi
— Florian Plettenberg (@Plettigoal) August 6, 2024
Sky Sports Germany’s Florian Plettenberg has posted on X (formerly Twitter) that there’s still no total agreement between Leverkusen and Bayern for Tah, and one can infer that until Alonso and his paymasters are perfectly happy with the deal, the German international won’t be going anywhere.
Once that move is confirmed, Man United should be able to finally land de Ligt.
