TENS of thousands of Bayern Munich fans have demanded the club SCRAP their sale of Matthijs de Ligt to Manchester United.
De Ligt, 24, is said to be edging closer to an Old Trafford move.
The details of the transfer will reportedly see him sign a five-year deal.
Man Utd will pay the Bavarians around £42million plus add-ons while the Germans sign Bayer Leverkusen star Jonathan Tah.
The Dutch defender has also indicated he wants to move and reunite with Erik ten Hag, who was his coach when the pair was at Ajax.
However, this deal does not have the approval of a number of Bayern fans.
Indeed, they have gone so far to even set up a petition protesting against the deal.
More than 31,000 fans had taken to Change.Org to sign it by Thursday night.
The description on it reads: “We all want Matthijs de Ligt to stay at FC Bayern Munich! He has proven that he’s a world class defender, probably the best in our squad.
“There is a reason why he was elected as our best player in the 2022-23 season.
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“Furthermore he is only 24 years old and has a bright future ahead, which he is going to use to fulfil his huge potential.
“Despite his young age, Mattha is already very mature and has a great mentality which will definitely make him a leading figure in defence and probably a competitor for captaincy in some years.”
De Ligt signed for Bayern from Juventus for £68m in 2022, and has gone on to play 73 games for the club with five goals and two assists to his name.
His two seasons at the Allianz Arena have seen him win the Bundesliga and German Super Cup.
It continued: “His ability to speak English, German and Dutch fluently would help him a lot for that.
“With 19 years he already brought Ajax Amsterdam to the UCL semi finals as captain.
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“Selling Matthijs de Ligt would be an absolutely horrible decision and we would definitely regret it.
“That’s why we use our voice to call attention that we will NOT make this mistake!”
When he was his manager previously, Ten Hag made De Ligt Ajax’s youngest-ever captain as they went on to win an Eredivisie and Dutch Cup double.
Paris Saint-Germain were reported to have entered the race for the centre-back.
However, reports suggest De Ligt has told agent Rafaela Pimenta that he only wants to move to the Red Devils, so much so that is allegedly willing to take a pay cut.
He has won the league at every club he has been at, which could be a good omen for Man Utd in their own efforts to climb up the table following a disappointing 8th place finish last season.
Man Utd’s new transfer approach under new co-owners Ineos has also seen them linked with Bologna’s Joshua Zirkzee and PSG midfielder Manuel Ugarte.
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Kevin De Bruyne has verbally agreed to join Saudi Pro League side Al Ittihad, according to reports.
Wolves have accepted West Ham’s £40m bid for defender Max Kilman.
Napoli are reportedly willing to lover their £110.8m asking price for Chelsea target Victor Osimhen.
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