Liverpool set to lose out on Matthijs de Ligt to Barcelona

Liverpool are reportedly set to lose out on signing Matthijs de Ligt to Barcelona as the Spanish outfit closes in on a big money deal to take the 19-year-old to Catalonia.

Earlier this week, Virgil van Dijk spoke to Dutch media, saying the Reds would have de Ligt on their radar and that he would be prepared to provide his opinion on his teenage counterpart.

He said: “He [de Ligt] is already very far, especially at that age. A good defender, good boy, calm, knows what he wants and hopefully he makes the right choice in his next step. He will be on the list, because they have enough scouts at the club.”

When asked if he was qualified to provide an opinion as a scout, van Dijk replied: “No, but if they need my opinion at Liverpool, I’ll give it.”

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Matthijs de Ligt of Ajax celebrates scoring his teams second goal of the game during the UEFA Champions League third round qualifying match between Ajax and Royal Standard de Liege at Johan Cruyff Arena on August 14, 2018 in Amsterdam, Netherlands.

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While de Ligt might be on Liverpool’s radar, the Mirror claim that Barcelona believe they have won the race to sign him. They had scouts in Rotterdam on Friday as the Dutchman kept PSG superstar Kylian Mbappe quiet with an assured defensive display alongside van Dijk.

Apparently, Barca plan to smash the world record paid for a teenager and will sign him in the summer as a replacement for the aging Gerard Pique.

Even if Liverpool were to miss out on de Ligt, with Joe Gomez continually improving at the heart of the Reds’ defence, Jurgen Klopp won’t be losing sleep. The Englishman was superb once again for his country as he helped inspire a late comeback to overcome Croatia in the UEFA Nations League.

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Source: anfieldhq.com