Barcelona are accelerating their pursuit of Matthijs de Ligt. Competition for the Ajax defender is intense and fierce, mainly from Juventus and PSG, which is why Barca are reducing their timeframe to close the deal. The ECA assembly in Amsterdam gives the Catalan president Bartomeu and the CEO Grau an opportunity to meet and discuss the deal with Edwin van der Sar, CEO of Ajax, despite the absence of director of sport Overmars. Van der Sar recently reiterated that the club will sell de Ligt to the team that will find full agreement with the player, who for his part has expressed his preference for Barça.

Barcelona need to raise funds to finance such an operation that, for the transfer fee alone, requires an expenditure of no less than €70-75 million. The sacrifice of a big player is needed in the summer and the eyes have fallen on Samuel Umtiti. After making some mistakes at the beginning of the season, the central defender who won the World Cup with France has slipped behind Piqué and Lenglet in the Valverde hierarchy and at the end of the season, writes Mundo Deportivo, could look for a move. His destination is exected to be the Premier League: Manchester United is the main candidate for his purchase and if to hypothesize the payment of the release clause appears impossible (€500 million, fixed with his contract renewal of last June), its sale could still bring a massive figure into the coffers of the Barcelona. That may prove to be decisive in the quest to beat the competition of Juve and PSG and bring de Ligt to the Nou Camp.