Juventus are in crisis and Matthijs de Ligt is rubbing it in, declaring the move to Bayern Munich was ‘a step up because their ambition is to win the Champions League.’
The Dutch international was signed from Ajax in 2019 for a massive €85.5m and sold to Bayern Munich this summer for €67m plus bonuses.
He is relishing life in the Bundesliga and does not hold back on criticising his former club, who have started their Champions League campaign with two defeats against PSG and Benfica.
“I really enjoyed my time at Juventus, but felt the time had come for a fresh challenge,” De Ligt told NOS while on international duty with the Netherlands.
“Juve are a great team, but coming here was another step up for me, because Bayern have the ambition to win the Champions League. I didn’t get the sense of that at Juve.”
The Bianconeri famously struggle in Europe and have not won the Champions League since 1996, which is three years before De Ligt was even born.
This season they’ve also had a dismal run in Serie A, winning just two games and most recently suffering defeat to rock bottom Monza.
Coach Max Allegri has been criticised for his negative style of football and again De Ligt admits this was partly behind his decision to leave Turin.
“Bayern Munich are closer in philosophy to what the Netherlands team wants on the field. I am very satisfied with how the first two months have gone.”
The Germans are in Inter‘s Champions League group and have won both their games so far against the Nerazzurri and Barcelona.