Everton reportedly wanted to bring a 17-year-old Ajax player called Matthijs de Ligt to the Premier League in 2017.
Cast your minds back to April 9th 2017. According to the Mirror (page 49), Everton were running the rule over a promising young centre-back by the name of Matthijs de Ligt.
A highly-rated 17-year-old, Ajax’s latest fresh-faced academy graduate certainly looked a talent. Before the age of 18, he had already played 15 times for the Eredivisie giants and had even been rewarded with a shock debut for the Dutch national team.
So, two years on this month, whatever became of this one-time Everton target? Well, it’s fair to say you don’t need to rely on Wikipedia or YouTube montages these days with De Ligt evolving into arguably the most coveted and talked-about defender anywhere in world football.
De Ligt is now the captain of an Ajax side who have stunned Real Madrid and Juventus in their own back yards to reach the semi-finals of the Champions League for the first time since 1997. He even scored the winner in Turin, clattering a famous header into the bottom corner to spark wild celebrations in Amsterdam.
According to AS, Manchester City, PSG, Real Madrid and Bayern Munich are all lining up to flutter their eyelashes in De Ligt’s direction. Barcelona, however, are leading the chase and are expected to reunite the 19-year-old with fellow Ajax wonderkid Frenkie de Jong at the Camp Nou for a fee of £65 million.
It is fair to say he has come a long way since catching Everton’s eye.
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