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Oliver Kahn has revealed Matthijs de Ligt was quickly won over by the prospect of joining Bayern Munich from Juventus.
The defender has agreed to switch from Serie A to the Bundesliga and confirmation of his move on a five-year contract was widely expected to come on Tuesday.
Dutch centre-back De Ligt spent three seasons with Juventus, winning the Scudetto in the first of those campaigns before the Turin giants slipped to consecutive fourth-placed finishes.
He leaves to join a Bayern side who have won 10 consecutive domestic league titles, with Kahn confident the new acquisition will fortify coach Julian Nagelsmann’s defence.
Former goalkeeper Kahn, who is now Bayern’s CEO, said: “If you look at the last two or three years, we’ve been very successful, but we’ve conceded one or two too many goals.”
The outlay on De Ligt, reported to be €70million plus €10m in potential add-ons, is targeted at ensuring Bayern are more secure at the back.
“De Ligt is big, strong in tackles, strong in the air, he has a good build-up game. He’s someone who likes to lead and is loud,” Kahn said, quoted widely by German media.
Kahn, speaking on Bayern’s US tour, said talking De Ligt into joining was “very easy”, just “like Sadio Mane”.
Kahn revealed how Senegal forward Mane had “thought for two days” before deciding to leave Liverpool for Bayern in June.
“It was the same with Matthijs de Ligt,” said Kahn.
Bayern have lost Niklas Sule on a free transfer to Borussia Dortmund, and Omar Richards left for Nottingham Forest.
It remains to be seen whether Nagelsmann and Bayern elect to move on other fringe defenders after landing their prime target in De Ligt, but no such outgoing move appears imminent.
“At the moment we’re not thinking in those categories,” Kahn said.
