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Hello! Welcome to the 100th edition of The Athletic FC newsletter — *acknowledges crowd*. Thanks for sticking around.
Coming up:
✍️ How United signed De Ligt
⭐ Madrid’s mega-squad masterplan
😯 Trippier wants to leave Newcastle
🔮 Van Dijk’s contract situation
Inside De Ligt Deal
Darren Staples/AFP via Getty Images
Want to know the inside story of how Manchester United signed a €45million Dutch defender? Here’s one I wrote earlier…
Why did he leave Bayern Munich?
Earlier in the summer, Matthijs de Ligt’s place at Bayern was increasingly under threat — and at the Euros he was devastated not to be the Netherlands’ first-choice centre-back.
According to one source close to the defender, who — like others in the article — was speaking anonymously to protect relationships, it became clear the German club “were playing a game” during conversations and wanted him to leave. When this became public, a petition asking him to stay was signed by more than 70,000 Bayern fans.
De Ligt was disappointed and asked new head coach Vincent Kompany for clarity — but sources differ on the exact nature of what was said. According to the player’s camp, Kompany said he was not responsible and told the 25-year-old he was his “No 1 defender”. A Bayern spokesperson denied Kompany had said words to that effect.
Regardless, with some at the club having doubts over his passing ability off his left foot and the sense he hadn’t quite hit the heights expected, he was on his way out.
How did United persuade him?
As a child, De Ligt loved watching Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United teams, and was aware Jaap Stam, one of his heroes, had previously played for the club.
But a more compelling draw was Erik ten Hag, who had made him Ajax’s youngest-ever captain at 18 years old in 2018. Although De Ligt joined Juventus in Italy for €75million (£65.6m) later that year, before joining Bayern in 2022 for €80million (plus add-ons), he kept in touch with Ten Hag via text — meaning that when his situation in Germany became clear, Manchester United could strike quickly.
Contact was made with the player’s representatives by Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain — but the Ten Hag relationship meant United were in pole position.
Another Dutch player?
Ten Hag has signed six players he previously coached at Ajax: De Ligt, fellow new arrival Noussair Mazraoui (below), Antony, Lisandro Martinez, and Andre Onana.
It is understandable why this could be criticised as a blinkered approach — but though Ten Hag initially suggested De Ligt’s name in January, the club’s new football leadership quickly agreed with him when he suddenly became available at a relative discount this summer.
Mazraoui (right) with De Ligt (Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images
He fitted their model as a younger player, with his leadership skills another appealing factor; reports on this, going back several years, were already in Manchester United’s system.
How has he settled?
The expectation is he will win the starting right-sided centre-back role — especially while Leny Yoro recovers from a metatarsal injury — even though Harry Maguire partnered Lisandro Martinez in the opening game of the season against Fulham.
A source close to De Ligt praised the club for helping him with the move, calling it “very professional and attentive”. As another example, Mazraoui, who joined the club on the same day, was shown around local mosques by a Muslim community leader.
There have been exits this week — winger Facundo Pellistri joined Panathinaikos on Wednesday in a permanent move — but the arrivals are ready to hit the ground running.
Transfer Talk
📲 Live transfer blog
📺 Chelsea vs Servette, UEFA Conference League play-offs, 3pm ET/8pm UK — Chelsea TV.
Show Viz
It’s a new season and freshness is in the air — but it isn’t on the field, according to Michael Cox.
The Premier League is the wealthiest and most powerful domestic competition on the planet. Turnover should be expected — but the 17 surviving Premier League sides each started, on average, just 0.8 new signings last weekend.
As for the average exits from their most-used XIs last season? Only 0.65 players each. Maybe the Premier League’s financial strength isn’t just buying new players but holding onto those they already have.
Building a mega Madrid
Add something super to a superteam and get a megateam. Add something mega (in this case, Kylian Mbappe) to a megateam and you get this iteration of Real Madrid. Or something like that.
Just look at Carlo Ancelotti’s attacking set-up…
Now consider that Endrick, Eduardo Camavinga, Arda Guler and Brahim Diaz are on the bench. That woodwork better be able to hold roughly half a billion euros worth of talent.
How did we get here? More accurately, how did Madrid get here? Perhaps the most interesting part is that this has been a plan for a while. Madrid, since Florentino Perez’s return as president in 2009, realised they had to act smart after the emergence of powerful European rivals backed by the wealth of oil-rich states.
Mario Cortegana has explained the plan, the recruitment and the management aspect as the Liga club started targeting promising youngsters earlier in their development as well as ‘market opportunities’ for quality players at reduced prices. It has brought the European champions a new cast of self-made galacticos.
Attackers, assemble!
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(Top: Robbie Jay Barratt – AMA/Getty Images)
