Tottenham look to be in the race to sign two of Europe’s most sought-after talents, the Ajax pair Frenkie de Jong and Matthijs de Ligt, along with Barcelona, according to reports from Mundo Deportivo.
The Spanish outlet claims that the Tottenham playmaker Christian Eriksen has recommended the pair to the club’s hierarchy as ideal transfer targets for an outfit that failed to land a single player last summer. The Dane knows both the 21-year-old midfielder De Jong and the 19-year-old central defender De Ligt from his time at their club in Amsterdam.
They may well have to get into an arm wrestle with the Spanish champions Barcelona, who of course hold historic links with the Dutch club, and are said to have watched the pair for years and to maintain a keen interest in securing their scrawls.
The former Ajax, Arsenal and Barcelona man Marc Overmars, who is now Director of Football at the Dutch club, is set to start an auction for his prized pair of assets, according to the Spanish daily, which claims that Overmars “does not listen to anyone's offers, although they call him every day”.
The Barcelona backup ‘keeper, Jasper Cillessen, a teammate of both de Jong and de Ligt with the Dutch national side, is said to be in their ear trying to tempt them to come and join him in Catalonia.
Both parts of that pairing, as well as Cillessen, featured in a morale-boosting 2-0 win for Oranje over the World Champions France last night, with De Ligt going viral after matching the PSG tyro Kylian Mbappe in a footrace, something few defenders in world football have been able to since his fellow teenager burst onto the scene with Monaco.
