Manchester United sign Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui in double transfer coup from Bayern Munich

Manchester United have made a big move by signing Bayern Munich defenders Matthijs de Ligt and Noussair Mazraoui just before the start of the new season on Tuesday (Aug 13). The Red Devils, who are set to face Fulham at Old Trafford in their first Premier League match on Friday, have significantly strengthened their defense with the addition of these two talented players. Manager Erik ten Hag will be looking to build a competitive team with the £60 million ($77 million, 70 million euros) combined fee paid to Bayern for the duo.

"As soon as I heard that Manchester United wanted me, I felt an excitement about the opportunity of a new challenge at such a historic club,” De Ligt said in his first interview.

"In the conversations that followed, I was impressed by the vision that the football leadership set out and the role they saw for me in it.”

The latest signings see United add three senior defenders so far into the first team having already signed Lery Yono from Lille. The duo of De Ligt and Mazraoui had been on the team’s radar for a while with speculations linking them since the last season.

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Manchester United have not won a Premier League title since the 2012-13 season and will be eager to end the drought this season if they can challenge the monopoly of city rivals Manchester City.

On the other hand, Dutch defender De Ligt has become the most expensive defender in the history of football having now acquired a combined transfer fee of more than $200 million. Having started his career with Ajax under then-manager Ten Hag, De Ligt moved to Juventus for a fee of $85 million in 2019. In 2022 he would switch to Bayern from Juventus for a fee of $70 million while his latest move sees him smash the record combined transfer fee ever paid for a defender.