Udinese stun toothless Juve in Serie A
Juventus are seemingly out of the race for the Serie A title, as they sank to a shock 1-0 home defeat to Udinese.
Football agent Mino Raiola has revealed that Juventus was the first choice of Netherlands national team center-back Matthijs de Ligt.
Notably, De Ligt signed a five-year contract with the Serie A side in 2019 leaving Ajax, however, teams like Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain were also in the race for the 20-year-old.
“The most important thing is that Matthijs is happy,” Raiola told Voetbal International as quoted by Juve FC.
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“He could have gone to Juve a year earlier, but Ajax had asked him to stay when some agreements had already been made (between the two clubs).
“But because of Frenkie De Jong’s transfer to Barcelona, where he left for a large amount, Ajax wanted more than was agreed.
“In the end De Ligt returned to his first choice, Juventus. He was surprised by the interest of Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and other clubs, but at Juve, De Ligt works with the best defenders in order to become the best. He’s not interested in money, he just wants to play football.
“According to many Dutch people, Barcelona is not a foreign club, but really Dutch. Matthijs should have gone there by force, instead it wasn’t like that and it was almost a sort of sacrilege. He is Dutch like Frenkie and he comes from Ajax, so … The reasons they gave us to try and catch Matthijs were wrong.
“Mattthis is not interested in money, he just wants to play football,” the agent added.
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