Bayern Munich defenders Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui journeyed to the UK on Monday morning to complete their transfer to Manchester United before the upcoming Premier League season begins.
United have settled on an initial fee of €45m (£38.5m) with Bayern for De Ligt, which includes an additional €5m (£4.2m) in performance-related bonuses.
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In addition to De Ligt, another Bayern Munich player will join him at Old Trafford, with a €20m (£17.1m) transfer deal for Mazraoui also finalized.
De Ligt and Mazraoui were spotted at Munich airport early Monday morning before their flight to Manchester. De Ligt mentioned to Sky Germany reporter Ben Heckner, “Noussair is waiting for me.”
Both players are expected to be registered in time for United’s Premier League opener against Fulham this Friday.
However, Rio Ferdinand believes it is a ‘big ask’ for De Ligt to make an impact at United given his injury history at Bayern Munich.
“He’s had a lot of injuries, hasn’t started many games over the last two or three years and Man United are spending £45-50 million on him,” the former United defender remarked on Rio Ferdinand Presents.
“Is he going to come into Man United and make a difference? I think it’s a big ask for him and all eyes are going to be on him.”
Ferdinand added, “Big pressure, big opportunity for him, but there’s a lot of uncertainty with this signing due to his previous seasons with two big clubs not going as well as expected.”
Paul Scholes, Ferdinand’s former United teammate, has also criticized the decision to sign De Ligt.
“With Man United, we’re talking about players who can’t get into their team. He’s [De Ligt] not playing for them [Bayern], and that has to be a significant concern, especially when Eric Dier is playing in front of him. That is a massive concern for me,” Scholes told The Overlap.
“When you’re bringing in players for £40m, £50m just because he’s played for a club two or three years ago, Juventus got rid of him, he wasn’t good enough there and he obviously hasn’t been good enough at Bayern Munich.”
He added, “He’s coming to us almost like a second-rate defender.”
