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Manchester City have reportedly emerged as a serious threat to Chelsea's plans to sign Juventus centre-back Matthijs de Ligt. The Premier League champions are believed to be ready to fork out big money to land the Dutch international.
Tutto Juve reported that City believe the player could be the face of their defensive unit for years to come and are prepared to splash €90 million for his signature.
Man City manager Pep Guardiola is determined to create a team with some of the best youngsters from across Europe. He has already signed Argentine forward Julian Alvarez, 22, and Norwegian sensation Erling Haaland, 21, this summer and could now deliver a massive blow to Chelsea's hopes of landing De Ligt.
The 22-year-old defender has been consistently linked to the Blues. Foot Mercato reported earlier this month that the west London club were growing confident about signing him. The French outlet conveyed that although Chelsea had not reached an agreement with Juventus, they were hoping to sign the Dutchman for a price tag of over €70 million.
However, if Tutto Juve's claims of Manchester City preparing an offer of €90m are true, then Thomas Tuchel looks set to miss out on his priority target.
Guardiola's side will not only be altering the Blues' plans by signing De Ligt but will also force Bayern Munich to look elsewhere. The Bundesliga giants were also in the race to sign the former Ajax man and, as per Sport1, had even reached a verbal agreement with the centre-back.
Manchester City's reported valuation of €90 million is the closest anyone has come to De Ligt's release clause of €125 million. It is being suggested that the Serie A giants are looking to generate funds themselves and could sanction the Dutch centre-back's sale for the aforementioned amount.
Manchester City have collected over €100 million by selling Gabriel Jesus to Arsenal and Raheem Sterling to Chelsea. City centre-back Nathan Ake has also been linked with a move to Stamford Bridge. Hence, splashing cash on the Juventus man will not be a pain. De Ligt has made 117 appearances for the Bianconeri in all competitions since signing in 2019 for €85 million.
Ben Chilwell believes Chelsea are closest to champions Manchester City after Liverpool
Ben Chilwell believes that if the Blues can remain consistent throughout the season, they will match the level of the Premier League's two best teams. The 2021-22 campaign was underwhelming for Thomas Tuchel's men, who finished third in the English top flight.
The English international told the Daily Mirror:
"Manchester City and Liverpool have set the bar, for maybe the last five years, which every other team in the league is aspiring to get at. Me being a Chelsea player, I’d say we’re the closest to them, and we’re aspiring to get on the same level as them."
Chilwell added:
"We showed in patches last season that we could compete with them, but it’s that consistency that they’ve shown. We’ve shown we’ve got the talent in the team. We just need to now have that consistency that Liverpool and City have got."
