Rumour Mongering: Barcelona Afraid of Reds in Matthijs de Ligt Chase

Liverpool are the big, bad boogeyman coming to steal De Ligt this week in the Catalan press.

Liverpool ended Barcelona’s Champions League dreams in about the most painful way possible and now they’re coming to steal their presumed top summer transfer target away from them, or at least that’s the story this week in the Catalan press.

For the past few months at least, the story out of the Barcelona-briefed media has been that Matthijs de Ligt is a done deal, with the only question being the final price they would have to pay to bring the 19-year-old star to the Camp Nou from Ajax.

Now, though, Mundo Deportivo think that Liverpool’s resurgence and the presence of De Ligt’s national team teammate Virgil van Dijk might be enough to sway Europe’s top young centre half away from Barcelona and towards the Reds.

If there’s been any truth to the months of talk about De Ligt to Barcelona being an all but done deal then it’s probably nothing more than an attempt to milk a little more mileage out of a transfer saga that’s been running for some time now.

On the other hand, Liverpool have managed to keep their dealings very quiet ever since briefings to friendly journalists nearly ruined the Van Dijk signing—nothing from the their end doesn’t necessarily mean a lack of interest or even confidence.

In the end, it’s probably nothing—Liverpool probably won’t sign De Ligt and may not even be interested if he’s seen as a Barcelona lock. At the very least, though, it’s fun to think of them being a real threat to steal away Barca’s top target.

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com