Matthijs de Ligt agrees terms with Juventus but PSG refuse to give up

Matthijs de Ligt has accepted Juventus offer of a five-year contract worth €24m (£21.6m) a year, of which a third will be performance related bonus, but Paris Saint-Germain have still not given up on signing the Ajax defender.

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The 19-year-old’s agent, Mino Raiola, has been discussing a potential deal for his client for several weeks now and Wednesday’s news represent a significant breakthrough in negotiations for the Serie A club. Juventus have agreed to a release clause of around £134m for the Netherlands international.

The offer would give the centre-back a basic salary of around £270,000 a week with add-ons increasing his possible earnings to £415,000 a week. Juventus will now start official talks with Ajax in the hope that a deal of around £70m will clinch a deal.

PSG, however, have still not given up on winning the race for a player who captained Ajax to the Champions League semi-finals last season and who has already won 17 caps for the Netherlands. The PSG sporting director, Leonardo, is still in contact with the Dutch club as well as Raiola, trying to convince them to sell to the Ligue 1 club instead.

Juventus are also set to re-sign Gianluigi Buffon, who left the club last summer to join PSG. The goalkeeper, who spent 17 years at Juve in his first stint, will be used as a backup for Wocjiech Szczesny, who has become the club’s first-choice keeper.

The Italian champions, who recently appointed Maurizio Sarri as their new manager, are also confident of signing French midfielder Adrien Rabiot, who is available on a free transfer after his PSG contract expired.