DBasia.news – Barcelona defender Gerard Pique is rumored to have been an obstacle for the Blaugrana to sign Matthijs de Ligt. Pique is afraid of losing out to De Ligt.
Matthijs de Ligt received a lot of interest after bringing Ajax Amsterdam to the semifinals of the Champions League a few seasons ago. Although still young, the Dutch international defender appeared strong in Ajax’s defense.
Barcelona is one of the clubs interested in De Ligt. Moreover, previously Barca had signed De Ligt’s partner, Frenkie de Jong.
However, in the end, Juventus won. With a capital of €85 million, Juve signed the 22-year-old defender.
Sport revealed, one of the reasons Barcelona lost in the hunt for De Ligt was because of Gerard Pique. The captain directly banned De Ligt from joining Barca.
Pique and De Ligt reportedly accidentally met during the summer break. Both talked about De Ligt’s chances of heading to Barcelona.
However, Pique banned De Ligt from joining. He warned that moving to Barca would mean that De Ligt would have minimal playing time.
Sport added that Pique’s warning was not purely for the good of De Ligt. However, the defender fears his position will be shifted by the presence of De Ligt.
Now, the issue of Barcelona targeting Matthijs de Ligt has continued to circulate. Moreover, Barca reportedly have a golden opportunity to sign De Ligt after there is a clause that allows bringing the player for the price that Juve spent when purchasing him from Ajax.