Bayern Munich officially announced the signing of Dutch defender Matthijs de Ligt from Italian club Juventus on a five-year contract. Bayern president Herbert Hainer stated, "Matthijs de Ligt was one of our primary targets. With such signings, the big goals we set can be achieved." Hainer was quoted by the French news agency saying, "De Ligt will become one of the pillars of Bayern."
The financial details of the deal have not been disclosed, but some German newspapers speculate the fee to be around 70 million euros with additional bonuses up to 10 million. Bayern Munich utilized the proceeds from the transfer of Polish forward Robert Lewandowski to Barcelona, estimated at over 45 million euros, to help finance the deal for de Ligt, who joined Juventus in the summer of 2019 from Ajax on a five-year contract for 75 million euros.
De Ligt explained his decision to join the German giant saying, "From the beginning, I felt a genuine appreciation from the sports management, the coach, and the board, which convinced me. Additionally, Bayern Munich is managed brilliantly with big goals."
This transfer aims to bolster the defense following Niklas Süle's departure at the end of last season to local rivals Borussia Dortmund. In a statement to the "Bild" newspaper over the past weekend, Bayern's CEO described former goalkeeper Oliver Kahn's interest in de Ligt as "very intriguing." In 117 matches with the "Old Lady," de Ligt scored eight goals in all competitions and won the Italian league and both the cup and super cup once. Bayern had previously signed Senegalese international forward Sadio Mané on a three-year contract from Liverpool last month.
