Matthijs de Ligt dismisses Barcelona talk

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Despite the recent speculation about his future, Matthijs de Ligt isn’t thinking about leaving Juventus at the moment.

A product of the famous Ajax academy, De Ligt helped the Dutch team win the domestic double in 2018-19 and reach the Champions League semifinals. Along with Frenkie de Jong, he was heavily linked with a move to Barcelona the following summer, but only the midfielder ended up actually going to the Catalans, while De Ligt signed for Juventus in a deal believed to have cost the Old Lady over €85 million.

The 21-year-old centre-back struggled with injuries and tested positive for Covid-19 during 2020-21, still managing 25 Serie A starts in the end. Nonetheless, speculative reports have recently suggested he could be moving on soon, and Barcelona have been mentioned once again, but De Ligt says he has no intention of leaving Turin.

“I am very happy at Juve. I feel like a fish in water,” he told ESPN Netherlands.

“Despite the team performances not being as good, I feel good on the field and appreciated. Would they want to let me go? There are plenty of clubs that have money problems, but you should ask the club.”

He was asked directly if Barcelona would be his next club and like practically every player when answering such questions, he refused to rule it out, but he also said the move would make no sense now.

Juventus finished fourth in the Italian top flight, barely managing to land a Champions League spot for next season, which led to the decision to part ways with Andrea Pirlo and reappoint Massimiliano Allegri as the head coach.