Report: Liverpool have made their move to sign 'incredible' 22-year-old, player isn't ruling anything out

By Sam Preston

Liverpool have made their first move to sign Matthijs de Ligt from Juventus amid uncertainty over his future, according to reports from Italy.

Calcio Mercato say that de Ligt would ideally like to spend at least another season at Juventus but is not ruling anything out, including a summer exit.

Liverpool are well-stocked in defence right now and it has been reported recently that Joe Gomez is expected to sign a new deal despite a lack of gametime.

But de Ligt is one of the brightest young defensive prospects in world football and of course an international teammate of Virgil van Dijk for Holland.

Liverpool have made their first move to sign de Ligt

The report, which also references interest from Chelsea, reads: “In addition to the Blues there is Liverpool, which a few weeks ago began to take its steps in the direction of De Ligt, rather concrete.

“The issue is a contract renewal. A sale cannot be ruled out. The Dutchman deals with the extension of his contract with Juve, knowing that he is one of the most coveted defenders in the world.

“He has not asked to be sold. In his plans, he would still have at least one more season at Juventus, but he does not even want to rule anything out. This is why a central aspect in this renewal negotiation is precisely the value of the release clause.

“If Juve pushes for an extension of at least one season, it is for budgetary reasons but also to freeze De Ligt’s position for at least one summer.

“If De Ligt is open to renewal it is because he knows that at this moment a sale would be complicated and the release clause makes him almost unsaleable as he is at €125 million (£106 million) and then rises to €140 million (£119 million) next season.

“Bringing the release clause around €75-80 million (£63.8-68 million), would allow De Ligt to be the master of his own destiny. Even at the cost of seeing the possibility of activating the same release clause postponed for a season.“

It is pretty much guaranteed that Liverpool would not pay a British record fee to activate his release clause. It is just not in keeping with what they do.

But if Juventus do sell for financial reasons, a deal could be there to be done and Liverpool have been such smart operators in the transfer market in recent years.

They have already made their move and they will have an idea of the lie of the land, with the ability to get a deal done if there is one to be had.

The 22-year-old’s potential is ‘incredible‘, according to Andrea Barzagli and Jaap Stam backed De Ligt to become ‘the best defender in the world‘.

Even though Liverpool do not need another central defender really, this could be a great opportunity at the right price, but that is the only way the Reds will do this deal.