Former Juventus manager Fabio Capello believes the Serie A title race will be over for another season if the Bianconeri complete the signing of Matthijs de Ligt.
As reported by Goal on Saturday , Juve are set to bid €70 million (£63m/$80m) for De Ligt in a bid to beat Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain to the defender.
The 19-year-old guided Ajax to last season’s Champions League semi-final as captain, while also helping the Netherlands to the Nations League final, scoring in the semi-final victory over England.
The centre-back also scored the winner in his side’s Champions League quarter-final victory over Juventus, sending the Eredivisie winners to the last four of the competition for the first time since 1997.
And Capello told Corriere dello Sport that Juventus would ease their way to a ninth straight Scudetto should they land their target.
“If Juve sign De Ligt then it’s over. Again. And we go directly to the season after,” he said.
“De Ligt is the best defender out there. He allows you to defend with two, freeing up the full-backs, like he has at Ajax.
“With him, Juve will have hit the jackpot. Without him, well, it could help the others get closer.
“Let me be clear. When I talk about others, I’m referring exclusively to Napoli and Inter.
“Milan, Roma and Lazio won’t participate in the title race for obvious technical delays and financial problems.”
Napoli finished second in 2018-19, 11 points behind the champions, but Capello thinks it will be much tighter if they sign Roma defender Kostas Manolas, with whom they have been heavily linked with in recent weeks.
“I’ve read about Manolas to Napoli. With him and Kalidou Koulibaly, as well as a couple more quality reinforcements, Napoli become very competitive.”
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