The manager of the Dutch national team, Ronald Koeman, has tipped the young Ajax centre-back to soon take the next step in his career.
Netherlands manager Ronald Koeman has stated that he believes Matthijs De Ligt will move to a bigger club in the near future.
Currently, the 19-year-old centre-back plays for Ajax in the Eredivisie but the former Everton and Southampton boss believes his days in the Dutch league are numbered.
De Ligt’s has enjoyed somewhat of a meteoric rise in his fledgling football career to date and has already earned 11 international caps where he often plays as part of a back-three alongside Virgil van Dijk and Daley Blind. Blind is also his defensive partner at de Godenzonen.
Koeman was speaking at his pre-game press conference in preparation for Holland’s game with France on Friday evening. As reported by talkSPORT, he seemed to have no doubts about what the future holds for the young Dutch star.
“It is obvious a player of the level of Matthijs will move into a higher league soon,” said Koeman.
“I have talked about him a lot and the truth is he should be playing at a much higher level, he has the ability to make it to the very top in football.”
This news is bound to have caught the attention of Jurgen Klopp and his Liverpool scouting department. De Ligt has previously been rumoured to be a transfer target for The Reds while Manchester City and Spurs have also been mentioned as interested parties.
De Ligt is one of the most phenomenal young talents in world football right now so it’s a safe presumption that every big club with a scouting branch in Holland will be keeping tabs on De Ligt.
The fact that the 19-year-old has been learning his game beside Van Dijk with the Netherlands is a definite selling point for Liverpool in any potential transfer battle.
A lot will depend on what De Ligt’s actual relationship with Van Dijk is like behind the scenes but there is certainly huge potential to develop a fantastic defensive partnership with Liverpool’s number four at both club and country level.
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