Why Chelsea must win the race to sign Bayern target De Ligt

 

Back in 2019, Matthijs de Ligt was a wanted man in Europe. Fresh from captaining Ajax to Eredivisie success, and becoming the youngest ever captain in a Champions League knockout stage game, the vultures were understandably circling Amsterdam. There was high profile interest across the continent in the Dutchman, notably from Barcelona, but it was Juventus who won the race the land De Ligt. 

 

Spending around €75m to secure his services, there was already pressure on De Ligt to make a smooth transition from the Eredivisie to Serie A. At 19 years of age, there were always going to be teething issues for the player, who did look a little out of his depth in his early months in Turin. 

 

In addition, De Ligt had huge boots to fill for Juventus. Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini had been the go-to centre-back partnership for the Old Lady and the duo had formed a superb understanding at the heart of the defence. The latter's injury issues saw De Ligt thrust into first team duties sooner than some may have thought best for his development, and that only added to the burden to immediately adjust to the rigours of Italian football. 

 

Understandably, De Ligt struggled in his debut season, but he has improved year on year for Juventus, so much so that they had been looking to extend his contract. However, with Chelsea looking to bring in some new centre-backs this summer to ease the departures of Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger, the Netherlands international has since emerged as a top target for the Blues. 

 

During his three years in Turin, De Ligt has worked under three different managers in Maurizio Sarri, Andrea Pirlo and Max Allegri, and the managerial uncertainty at the Juventus Stadium hasn't helped the overall settling in period. Working under the latter, though, as the Old Lady have been more conservative in their approach, De Ligt has enjoyed his best rated Serie A season to date, earning a WhoScored rating of 6.87. 

 

It may be the most impressive return, but there has been a season-on-season improvement from the Dutch international to suggest he is starting to find his feet in Italy. With Juventus remaining more compact under Allegri, there is less space for De Ligt to get beaten by attackers, so much so that having been dribbled past 0.4 times per 90 in his first two seasons in Italy, the young centre-back was dribbled past just 0.1 times per 90 in 2021/22. 

 

With Juventus remaining as conservative as they did, it's no surprise that their possession average of 51.7% was the lowest during De Ligt's three full seasons with the club. Under Sarri and Pirlo, Juventus were a side that sought to dominate opponents, yet Allegri was willing to sacrifice possession in order to maintain the Old Lady's defensive resolve, so much so that a return of 37 goals conceded was the fourth fewest in the division. 

 

Granted, the best they could muster was a top-four finish, but from a defensive viewpoint, there was an improvement in the number of goals conceded, with just the 37 shipped the fewest since the start of 2019/20. Had De Ligt started every game, it's likely they would have conceded fewer. In the 29 league games he started last season, Juventus conceded just 26 goals, while in the nine games he did not start, they shipped 11, an average rising from 0.9 to 1.22. 

 

 

In addition, Juventus' goals scored per game also rose from 1.11 to 1.62 when De Ligt started, and it's the willingness to get the ball down and play that will have helped. Relative to possession, that 31.4% of De Ligt's passes went forward is a commendable effort by the Netherlands international as he looked to get the ball into midfield to aid the Juventus offensive. 

 

This distribution will be part of the reason why Thomas Tuchel is looking to land De Ligt this summer. When at first a move seemed impossible, particularly as it looked as though De Ligt would put pen to paper on a new Juventus deal, the player's supposed desire to play under Tuchel has convinced the Serie A side otherwise. While centre-backs will often rank highly for forward passes and, for the most part, a higher percantage of their passes do go forward considering their position on the pitch, but with the Chelsea boss looking to his three defenders to instigate attacks from the back, the Juventus man is one who can abide by these instructions to a good standard. 

 

In addition, De Ligt will have seen how well Tuchel has developed his centre-backs during his 18 months at Stamford Bridge. Take Rudiger, for example, the German was linked with a move away from Chelsea six months prior to Tuchel succeeding Frank Lampard in west London. Yet the Chelsea boss turned his compatriot into one of the finest defenders on the continent and duly secured a big money move to Real Madrid this summer. Granted, the Blues will have preferred to have kept Rudiger in England, yet it goes to show that with the right coaching, a player can find another level when they appear to be stagnating. 

 

De Ligt has certainly improved despite managerial uncertainty in Italy, and while he isn't back to his Ajax levels, he's on the right track again. Despite setbacks for club and country, De Ligt has shown incredible maturity to bounce back in his quest to develop. This mental toughness will sit well with Tuchel, who'll be keen to bolster his defensive ranks sooner rather than later, particularly with Bayern sniffing around the young centre-back now. The Dutchman won't come cheaply, yet given his tender years, he could prove a fine addition to the Chelsea defence.

Why Chelsea must win the race to sign Bayern target De Ligt