Juventus have announced the signing of highly-rated Dutch centre-back Matthijs de Ligt from Ajax.

The 19-year-old, who had previously been linked with Manchester United and Barcelona, has signed a five-year contract with the Serie A champions.

Juve have paid an initial fee of €75 million for a player who helped Ajax reach last season’s Champions League semi-finals and win the Eredivisie title, while reaching the Nations League final with the Netherlands.

At the weekend Leiderdorp-born De Ligt was left out of Ajax’s squad for their summer tour to Austria pending a transfer and he arrived in Turin on Wednesday to undergo a medical at Juve’s headquarters.

Earlier in the summer, he was expected to join Barcelona, who have signed his former Ajax team-mate Frenkie De Jong, while Premier League club United and Paris Saint-Germain had reportedly been interested in securing his services.

De Ligt joins Cristian Romero, Luca Pellegrini, Aaron Ramsey, Adrien Rabiot and Merih Demiral as a new signing at Juve, with recently-appointed head coach Maurizio Sarri also bringing veteran goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon back to Turin ahead of a bid for a ninth-consecutive league title for the Bianconeri.

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