Every club on the planet wants Matthijs de Ligt right now - he's the dream centre back.

A solid defender, quick, physically strong, great on the ball, and a natural leader, it's as though he's been built to be an elite modern defender.

He has captained Ajax to the Champions League semi-finals at just 19 years old while having already lifted the Dutch Cup and potentially the Eredivisie.

Barcelona are heavily linked, with Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, and Manchester City all supposedly hoping they can entice him.

And then there's Manchester United.

Right now, United aren't quite the pull they used to be but they reportedly tried their hand at signing De Ligt recently.

Marca claim that they offered €70m for him but the player 'wasn't tempted' by the idea of moving to Old Trafford.

Now, that's not embarrassing - every team gets rejected at some point - but what is embarrassing is that United allegedly turned down the chance to sign him a year ago.

Their reason for doing so? Because De Ligt "was vulnerable to gaining weight because of concerns about his family history", according to ESPN.

That's not great but it looks especially bad when you're now trying to sign the player a year later for €70m.

And being turned down yourselves.

Those concerns have disappeared in a year, apparently. Perhaps the De Ligt's have all slimmed down since then?

Whatever the reason, it looks as though United have missed their chance.

Instead, they're said to be looking at Harry Maguire and Kalidou Koulibaly. They're two fine centre backs who would likely do well for United.

But missing out on De Ligt may be something that hurts for many years to come.