Chelsea will have to fork out a huge transfer fee this summer if they are to land Juventus centre-back, according to reports.
The Netherlands international signed for the Old Lady in 2019 from Ajax in a deal worth around €75m after impressing at the Johan Cruijff ArenA.
He has now scored eight goals in 117 appearances in all competitions for Juventus winning one Serie A title, one Coppa Italia and one Supercoppa Italiana.
And he is attracting interest from the Premier League once again this summer with a recent report claiming that Chelsea are in ‘pole position’ to land Thomas Tuchel’s ‘first choice’ centre-back target.
Sky Italia now suggest there has been contact between the clubs as they insist ‘there was a first interest’ from Chelsea in the player.
While Sky Sports‘ Kaveh Solhekol insists that Chelsea will have to pay De Ligt’s €120m (£103m) release clause if they want to sign in the summer transfer window.
Solhekol told Sky Sports News: “Juventus signed him three years ago for €75m, he’s still only 22 years old, he’s arguably one of the best centre-backs in the world. And, according to Sky Italy, Chelsea are interested in signing him.
? | Chelsea are interested in Juventus centre-back Matthijs de Ligt. ??
De Ligt has a £103m (€120m) release clause in his Juventus contract, which is due to expire in 2024, and the club will only entertain offers close to that mark.?
[via @SkyKaveh]. pic.twitter.com/VFsmKQXOGt
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) June 23, 2022
“Now, I think it would be a difficult deal to pull off. He has a release clause of €120m, which is around £103m, and Juventus would want that release clause paid, or something very close to that.
“We know Chelsea are looking for a centre-back, De Ligt has been a long-term target but there are other centre-backs they are looking at as well. Jules Kounde at Sevilla is someone they’ve been after for a very, very long time. What we do know is that Chelsea will sign a centre-back this summer because they’ve lost Tony Rudiger, they’re losing Andreas Christensen as well.
“They will sign somebody, I think it will be somebody world class and De Ligt definitely fits the bill. And, according to Sky Italy, they are very interested in him.
“What’s interesting is that he has the same agent as Paul Pogba and those agents today are in Milan, speaking to Juventus. So we are just putting two and two together and thinking that, after they’ve finished talking about Paul Pogba, will they also talk about Mattijs de Ligt and Chelsea’s interest?”