De Ligt 'bored' of transfer links

Matthijs de Ligt is bored of rumours linking him with a lucrative move away from Ajax. Barcelona, Paris Saint-Germain, Manchester United and Juventus are all reportedly interested in signing the 19-year-old, who is Ajax's captain. De Ligt has already confirmed he will not leave Ajax - who face Real Madrid in the last 16 of the Champions League next month - during the January transfer window.

The centre-back is in no hurry to leave, although Ajax and Netherlands team-mate Frenkie de Jong has already been tempted away to Barca in a deal worth €86m.

"Am I annoyed by the rumours? No. Bored? A little bit," De Ligt said to ESPN. "But it doesn't matter to me if there's an article about where I should go or what I should do. It doesn't matter, at all. This place means a lot to me. I grew up here. I came here when I was nine years old. At Ajax you learn to win every game, to be at your best every game and it doesn't matter who your opponent is. It's in my blood."

 

November 20, 2018

The club's chief executive Edwin van der Sar himself left Ajax to forge a successful career for European giants Juventus and Manchester United. And the former Netherlands goalkeeper accepts it is a challenge for Ajax, who are second in the Eredivisie, to hold on to star names such as De Jong and De Ligt.

"That's the big question of course, when you see the numbers," Van der Sar told ESPN. "But we are a club that's financially very stable. We have a war chest. Our stadium is sold out every match. We have good commercial partners. We sold some players in the past [but] at a certain point you have to ask if you can retain players. Hakim Ziyech was a player who received some interest and we managed to keep hold of him and improve his contract."

"We have our philosophy, players, city, stadium and history ... we have a lot of things going on, but we play in a small league. We don't have to sell them but at a certain point for the player's development - I've seen that myself as well - you think you're ready, you want to compete against better, world-class players, and unfortunately they're not playing in Holland."