Juventus fear Barcelona may hack De Ligt move - report

The Italians have not hammered out an agreement with Ajax yet

Juventus fear a last-minute gazump from FC Barcelona when it comes to the signing of Matthijs de Ligt, according to Diario SPORT. The Italians wanted to have the deal done by this week to prevent the defender from rejoining Ajax’s training sessions, according to the report, but a failure to agree a fee with the Dutch club has put that on hold.

Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain had reportedly promised to pay 75 million euro to Ajax for the transfer, but Juventus have yet to agree to that price. Rumors said that De Ligt had personally chosen Juve as his next destination, but if the Serie A champions do not come to an agreement over the transfer fee with Ajax, the move would be off.

According to the report, De Ligt had accepted Juventus’s offer on the condition that they found a deal that left his current team happy, as he feels thankful to Ajax. Yet, the Italians saw the agreement with the player as a bargaining chip and offered only 50 million plus 20 more in bonuses, something which reportedly angered the Dutch club.

Now, Ajax awaits De Ligt joining their training sessions, and Barcelona are said to be on alert for a possible last-minute hijack of the deal. However, Barça are reportedly unwilling to improve the salary terms offered to the defender, which was one reason why he did not choose to join the Catalans in the first place.

Source: barcablaugranes.com