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Any advantage Bayern Munich thought they had in negotiations with Manchester United over the transfer of Matthijs de Ligt appears to have been lost.
The two clubs were locked in discussions over the player, with the Germans demanding €50 million and United offering a reported €35 million.
It looked as if a compromise would soon be reached until United’s other new centre back signing, Leny Yoro, broke a metatarsal in a pre-season match, meaning he will be out of action until November.
This emboldened Bayern to stick to their guns, believing United to now be more desperate to sign the Dutchman.
The reason the Bavarians were willing to sell De Ligt in the first place was to make space for Jonathan Tah of Bayer Leverkusen, a player they believe is the missing piece in their defensive jigsaw.
According to German outlet Kicker, there has now been a breakthrough on that front as “Bayern Munich and Bayer 04 have agreed in principle on the terms of transfer for Leverkusen’s defence chief.
“They have reached a clear agreement regarding the transfer fee and additional bonuses. These are in the region of around 25 million euros in fixed transfer compensation and around five million in performance-related additional payments.”
However, Bayern need to sell De Ligt before they can proceed with the purchase of Tah.
“Now everything depends on de Ligt,” Kicker concludes.
This breaking news represents a huge swing of the pendulum in United’s favour when it comes to the “transfer poker” over De Ligt.
Bayern now have to come to the table with a more reasonable figure if they want to land their number one target.
The fact that they are buying Tah for half the price they are asking for De Ligt seems to make their position of holding out for €50 million unsustainable.
United reportedly put in a double bid for both De Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui over the weekend that was rejected by the Bundesliga giants. A new bid is expected imminently and, given this new development, United will feel confident that this time, it will be accepted.
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