Barcelona are close to striking an agreement with Ajax for the signature of sought after centre-back Matthijs de Ligt, claims ESPN.
Barcelona agreed a deal with Ajax for Frankie de Jong back in January and have since set their sights on his team-mate, De Ligt.
The Ajax captain has been heavily linked with a number of Europe’s biggest clubs but Barcelona are the frontrunners by some distance.
De Ligt and De Jong will face Barcelona in the Champions League semi-finals after Ajax eliminated Cristiano Ronaldo’s Juventus on Wednesday night.
De Ligt scored the winning goal and his header was celebrated wildly from within Camp Nou as news filtered through to Barcelona supporters.
Barcelona haven’t even signed De Ligt and their fans have already celebrated one of his goals, albeit purely because it dumped old foe Ronaldo out of the competition.
The Spanish side have already committed €75m to sign De Jong at the end of the season and signing De Ligt will set them back something similar.
De Ligt, 19, has won two WhoScored Man of the Match awards in the Champions League this season, no defender has claimed more.
