Louis van Gaal believes Barcelona and Juventus bought the wrong Ajax players this summer. “Frenkie de Jong should’ve gone to Juventus, while Barca lack a Matthijs de Ligt type.”
The pair hit the headlines when taking Ajax to the Champions League semi-finals and earned massive transfers.
De Jong moved to Barcelona for €75m, with defender De Ligt heading to Juve for €85m.
Louis van Gaal believes Barcelona and Juventus bought the wrong Ajax players this summer. “Frenkie de Jong should’ve gone to Juventus, while Barca lack a Matthijs de Ligt type.”
The pair hit the headlines when taking Ajax to the Champions League semi-finals and earned massive transfers.
De Jong moved to Barcelona for €75m, with defender De Ligt heading to Juve for €85m.
“He is not playing in his position. At Ajax, everyone was looking for him, he was the centre of the game while at Barca it is not like that. This is the big difference,” the veteran Dutch tactician told Ziggo Sport in the Netherlands.
“If only one club had to buy Matthijs de Ligt, it would have been Barcelona. And with Sergio Busquets, it turns out that Frenkie de Jong should have gone to Juventus. Barca lacks more a De Ligt type player than De Jong.”
Barcelona sacked Ernesto Valverde and brought in Quique Setien, who does not seem to be getting the best out of De Jong.
Similarly, Maurizio Sarri suggested the Juventus midfield lacks the necessary characteristics to play his style of football.