Manchester United's failure to secure Champions League football may NOT work against them in the pursuit of Matthijs de Ligt.
The Ajax defender is the hottest property in world football with a host of clubs vying for his signature.
De Ligt is expected to depart Ajax this summer and issued a defiant speech at the club's title parade on Thursday.
Barcelona are in pole position to sign the 19-year-old, although as things stand, they are not willing to increase their salary offer to the Dutchman.
That has alerted Manchester United , City and Liverpool , while there is interest from PSG and Juventus .
All those clubs will be playing in Europe's premier competition next term but United won't after their sixth-placed finish.
It appeared they would have to shelve their interest and move for alternative options, with Kalidou Koulibaly and Harry Maguire on their radar.
But United's end-of-season slump has not put De Ligt off a potential move to Old Trafford, reports the Telegraph.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wants to build a new-look defence around the teenager and he remains interested in the switch.
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Meanwhile, former United defender Jaap Stam believes De Ligt would be an ideal partner for countryman Virgil van Dijk at Liverpool
"If you look at the squads: Barcelona, after losing to Liverpool (in the Champions League semi-final), probably wants to strengthen their squad, especially in defence, if you ask me. The question is how they are going to solve that problem.
"I think that Matthijs de Ligt would be a good fit though. It will be great to see how he performs against better players in a better league, not just every few weeks, but every weekend.
"The same goes for Liverpool. We all know who is their biggest defensive star - his Dutch colleague (Van Dijk) - the other players, Lovren and Matip, rotate quite a lot."
