Ajax’s reserve team assistant manager Ronald de Boer has listed Liverpool as a potential destination for centre back Matthijs de Ligt.
The 19-year-old has excelled for Ajax’s senior side in recent seasons, earning the captaincy, and is widely expected to leave the Dutch capital in a high profile move this summer.
De Boer has had his say: “For me, he can play in every team,” he told talkSPORT. “If he goes to a defending team, if he goes to an attacking team; he can play in every team because he is so, so good.
“In my opinion Matthijs de Ligt is further in his qualities [than Frenkie de Jong]. He’s more ready to make that step than Frenkie de Jong.” talkSPORT host Alan Brazil then interjected: “£100million, maybe?”, to which de Boer replied: “Yeah, yeah.”
“For me, [he should go to] Barcelona, [Manchester] City, Liverpool, [they] want the ball, Pairs Saint-Germain. Those are teams that I would give him advice to go there,” the Dutchman finished.
"He could play in every team because he is so, so good."
"De Jong went for £75m but De Ligt is further in his quality."
"I would advise him to go to #ManCity, #LFC… even #THFC!" ?
Ajax A1 assistant @RdBoer1970 says Matthijs de Ligt should look for a move to England! ??????? pic.twitter.com/TlnqrSGCuJ
— talkSPORT (@talkSPORT) April 30, 2019
OPINION
This is a very interesting assessment from an in-the-know figure on one of world football’s top young talents. De Boer has obviously witnessed de Ligt’s rise to prominence at Ajax and is clearly very high on him. He said he rates him higher than de Jong, who has just earned a lucrative move to Spanish champions Barcelona this summer. De Ligt will likely move on from Amsterdam himself come the end of the season, and Liverpool would be mad not to at least consider bringing him in. Clearly de Boer thinks the Reds would be a good fit for him, while he already has an established partnership at centre back with Virgil van Dijk from their time together with the Dutch national team. This is a potential move that would tick every box imaginable for Jurgen Klopp’s side. The only thing will be whether the German is ready to splash out on de Ligt when he already has a top young centre back in Joe Gomez. Only time will tell what his decision on the matter is, though.
