Chelsea & FC Barcelona vying it out for Serie A defender

Chelsea and FC Barcelona have been credited with an interest in Juventus and Netherlands star, Matthijs de Ligt.

As per Goal citing Calciomercato, Chelsea and Barcelona are vying for the signature of Matthijs de Ligt.

It is added that Barca are planning to submit a €75 million bid for De Ligt when the transfer window reopens, but Chelsea could launch a rival offer as Thomas Tuchel seeks to bolster his centre-back ranks.

This is not the first time Chelsea have been linked with De Ligt this term, with it reported back in October that the Blues had identified De Ligt as a potential replacement for Antonio Rudiger, whose current contract with the west Londoners runs out in the summer:

🚨🔵 Constant contacts between Marina #Granovskaia and Mino #Raiola for Matthijs #DeLigt. #Chelsea have identified the 🇳🇱 player as a replacement for #Rüdiger‘s possible farewell. #Juventus consider the centre-back transferable: ⚪⚫ evaluate him about €100M.🐓⚽ #CFC #Transfers t.co/81pHLLn7yw

— Rudy Galetti (@RudyGaletti) October 28, 2021

De Ligt’s Juventus stint

After several impressive seasons at Ajax, which saw him captain the side, win the Eredivisie and reach the Champions League semi-finals, Matthijs de Ligt was snapped up by Juventus in the summer of 2019.

The Italian powerhouse are believed to have paid big money, around £76m, to bring the centre-back to Turin.

Since his move to Italy, however, De Ligt has not had the best of times, as Juve failed to defend their Serie A crown last term, finishing the campaign down in 4^th place and are currently in the same spot after 25 games of the current season.

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