AS: Barcelona concede defeat, believe Matthijs de Ligt will end up at Bayern Munich or Juventus

According to a report by AS, FC Barcelona insiders have conceded that Matthijs de Ligt will probably “end up at Bayern Munich or Juventus”. Up until recently, the Catalans were considered favorites to land the young Dutchman. Now, it seems that the tide is turning against them.

The unnamed insider source from Barcelona told AS that they had “tried everything and could not do more”. De Ligt is said to swayed by the opinions of his agent Mino Raiola, who is driving the player away from Catalonia.

This is corroborated by a report from Mundo Deportivo, which states that it would be very difficult for Barcelona to finalize a transfer for the Dutchman. It says that the Barcelona board cooled their interest in the player so as to not get involved in a bidding war with some some of Europe’s biggest clubs.

BFW Analysis

This might sound like great news to fans of Bayern Munich, but all is not as rosy as it seems. If Barcelona conceded defeat, then that means that the transfer was getting too expensive for it to be worth it to them.

In addition, with Mino Raiola conducting negotiations on the behalf of de Ligt, can Bayern even be considered front-runners in the race to sign him? Raiola will stop at nothing to get the best possible deal for his client — which, to the Italian, means the biggest possible salary and transfer fee (and commission for the agent, i.e. Raiola). With Juventus and PSG also in the race, how long will it be before Uli Hoeness comes to the same conclusion as Bartomeu and the rest of the Barca board?