Juventus: Matthijs de Ligt, Merih Demiral can anchor this defense for years to come

Juventus have two of the world’s best young center backs in Matthijs de Ligt and Merih Demiral.

For years, Juventus have taken pride in their defending and have used their tactical defending and organization to become one of the Champions League’s most successful teams, as well as winners of eight straight Scudetti.

But while Juve made it nine straight Scudetti under Maurizio Sarri in 2019-2020, they stumbled out of the Champions League Round of 16. More concerningly, they gave up 1.13 goals per game, which is above their normal. More goals were scored this season in Serie A than usual, partially due to strict handball penalty rules, but Juve’s defense wasn’t as good as usual.

The old guard, Leonardo Bonucci and Giorgio Chiellini, are still effective. But there’s a youth movement brewing at the heart of the defense in Turin. And that youth movement prominently features Matthijs de Ligt and Merih Demiral.

Juventus signed the former Ajax and Sassuolo center backs in the summer 2019 transfer window. Demiral was a bargain at under 20 million euros, but the Bianconeri paid a whopping 75 million euros for de Ligt, who was viewed as the consensus top defensive prospect in world football.

Matthijs de Ligt has adjusted well to Serie A

De Ligt had an adjustment period to Serie A, but, by the end of the season, signing the Dutch defender was clearly money well-spent. He has established himself as Juve’s best defender and one of the best overall defenders in Serie A. The man can even score goals, as evidenced by his banger against Udinese. 

But before de Ligt took center stage in the summer, Demiral was Juventus’ most impressive center back prior to suffering a knee injury.

Demiral had the highest success rate of tackles against dribblers of any player on the team and was a standout in other statistics, including the most tackles per 90 in the defensive third and the most blocked shots per 90.

The Turkish center back is a couple of years older than de Ligt (21 to 19), but he was also a little better than de Ligt last season. Demiral’s sensational season was cut short by injury, but for a brief period of time, he legitimately looked like Serie A’s best center back.

Matthijs de Ligt, Merih Demiral having rare success at their age

It’s rare for two defenders to be this good at this age. Combined, Demiral and de Ligt had five goals in under 3,000 minutes, meaning literally only forwards Cristiano Ronaldo, Paulo Dybala, and Gonzalo Higuain provided more goal-scoring efficiency for the Old Lady in the 2019-2020 Serie A season.

A fully healthy partnership of de Ligt and Demiral could take Serie A by storm in the future. Juventus may be moving to a back three, which means Demiral and de Ligt can get starts alongside either Bonucci or Chiellini.

De Ligt will begin the season as a sure-fire starter. Demiral, on the other hand, will have to fight for his place. But based on his impressive numbers in 400-500 minutes of action last season, it shouldn’t take long for Demiral to earn his spot back. Juventus fans have to be excited about what the future holds for these two young, stellar center backs.