Alan Brazil cannot get his head round how Matthijs de Ligt can be worth less than Harry Maguire in the transfer market this summer.
The Dutch centre-back has completed his move to Juventus from Ajax for a fee in the region of £67.5m, although Juve confirmed there were additional costs of £9m, with the fee being paid over five years.
Meanwhile, the Maguire transfer sage is rumbling on, with Manchester United and Manchester City both seeing bids of £70m rejected by Leicester City for his services.
The Foxes are holding out for at least £80m for the England international, and Brazil cannot see how the man six years the senior of De Ligt can be worth significantly more.
‘Liverpool must have been interested with [Virgil] Van Dijk alongside him, because they play together in the national side for Holland,’ Brazil said on talkSPORT.
‘Could Manchester United not have gone in there with £67.8m?
‘This is nothing to do with Harry Maguire, I like him big style as a player, but they’re talking about £75m or £80m for Harry who is 26 and De Ligt is 20 next month, I believe, and he goes for just £67.8m!
‘I’m a big Harry Maguire fan, he’s dangerous at set-pieces, great on the ball, but at 20, you’ve got another 10 years out of De Ligt.’
The Dutchman made an impression on former England under-21 boss Stuart Pearce at the Nations League earlier this summer, and he also sees English clubs over-spending this summer.
‘How he’s only gone for £67m I’m not sure,’ said Pearce. ‘From what I saw in the Nations League playing alongside Van Dijk, he was outstanding, plays way above his years.
‘At that price, the comparison [with Maguire] and [Aaron] Wan-Bissaka at £50m, it’s out of tilt a little bit.’
Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman would certainly agree with this assessment, believing De Ligt will be considered the best central defender in the world.
‘De Ligt and [Holland team-mate Frenkie] de Jong are special for various reasons.,’ Koeman told Catalunya Radio in January (via Goal). ‘De Ligt is younger, 19, and plays in an important position, as a centre-back.
‘He’s the Ajax captain and from their school. That is to say Barca’s school, because it means that he has a lot of technical quality and tactical nous.
‘He will be the best centre-back in the world in two years.’
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