On February 4th, we covered a report from Mundo Deportivo, who claimed that Ajax’s Matthijs de Ligt ‘wants to come’ to Barcelona.
Three days later, the same publication reported the defender is ‘crazy’ for a move to Camp Nou.
The 19-year-old’s teammate Frenkie de Jong will join after this season and De Ligt wants to follow the midfielder to his new club.
Barcelona president Josep Maria Bartomeu gave an interview to Radio Kanal Barcelona and his comments were relayed in today’s edition of Sport. He was asked if his side are interested in the Netherlands international.
Bartomeu said: “We have been following De Ligt for a long time. It is true that he is a player we likes a lot, but Barça also has other important players in the squad.”
In 2017, Neymar left the Spanish champions and completed a switch to Paris Saint-Germain for a world-record fee of €222m.
There have been reports of the former Santos star offering himself to the Blaugrana, but the Catalan club’s chief has ruled out the possibility of signing the Brazilian.
“I have spoken with Neymar these years. We have met once, but never has his environment told me that he wants to return. He has not called anyone from the executive.
“He has a contract with PSG, it is his second season and it is very difficult for them to sell him. We did not want it to happen. We have the disadvantage here of the clause, there is a helplessness that the European clubs take advantage of. That’s why it’s not possible for him to come back.”
Following Neymar’s departure, Barcelona spent over €100m each on signing Ousmane Dembélé and Philippe Coutinho, and Bartomeu stressed the European giants are moving in another direction.
“The club has taken another path, with Dembélé and Coutinho, it was a bet that must be followed. They are the two biggest investments in the history of the club in signings and we trust 100% in this bet,” the Barca president added.
