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A portrait of the €50 mln Juventus and Barcelona dream

A portrait of the €50 mln Juventus and Barcelona dream

  • Emanuele Giulianelli @EmaGiulianelli
When we speak about Matthijs de Ligt, Dutch defender from Ajax, we shouldn’t forget that he is only 19. The number 4 of de Godenzonen, is born the 12th August 1999 in Leiderdorp, a town of 27.000 inhabitants in the western Netherlands; he starts playing football with the youth team of FC Abcoude when he’s just 7 and in 2009 he is chosen by Ajax.

“Are you between 6 and 16? Do you want to become an Ajax player? Join Abcoude clinics and become the new Matthijs de Ligt”: this is the advertising that the former club of the Dutch international defender has published to attract new talents to their football school.

After having joined the most important Dutch club, Mathijs de Ligt debuts in the Ajax first squad on September 2016 against Emmen. Just named “Talent of the future” of the youth system, he shows clearly his skills as a centre back even with the first team. He becomes the youngest player to take part in a final of a European cup in 2017, when Ajax loses 2-0 against Manchester United in the Europa League. In the match against Bulgaria, in March 2017, for the absence of Ron Vlaar, Stefan de Vrij, Jeffrey Bruma and Virgil van Dijk, he becomes the youngest player to be lined up from the first minute in the Dutch national team since 1931.

He makes his first appearance in Champions League in the preliminary round of 2017-18 against Nice and in the last March he takes the Ajax captain’s armband.  He’s ranked at number 4 in the NxGn 2018 of the 50 best teenagers in the world.