Manchester United are working hard to move forward with the transfer of Netherlands centre-back De Ligt, and the club's transfer department was working overtime even on Saturday to negotiate with Bayern Munich and will continue on Sunday. But progress was not so smooth, as Bayern raised De Ligt's price tag due to resistance from fans.

Manchester United are looking to complete the deal for £42 million, which is equivalent to €50 million, and the club remains optimistic about signing him as the former Ajax centre-back only wants to join the Red Devils, having spoken to Ten Hag and been impressed by the plans of his former mentor.

But 68,000 fans signed a petition asking Bayern to keep De Ligt, and while the Bundesliga giants will not fully listen to the fans' demands, the top brass must also do something to reassure supporters, and the most effective way is to sell De Ligt for a higher price.

Christian · Farke, a well-known footnote of Bild, confirmed: "That's true, many people have petitioned to keep De Ligt at Bayern, with tens of thousands of signatures, at least 68,000. It shows you how important he is to Bayern, and it's a shame Kompany doesn't think so. I will also sign the petition because I think the most important job of a defender is to defend and De Ligt is one of the best centre-backs in Europe in that regard."

Commenting on the progress of Manchester United and Bayern Munich in relation to De Ligt's transfer, Falke said: "As you can see, he is very close to Manchester United now. A few months ago, when Bayern had not yet decided on a new manager, he told me that he wanted to stay at Allianz. But Ten Hag has lobbied effectively, he has shown players how to use him and I think the transfer will be done soon because the two clubs have started negotiations.'

As for the transfer fee involved, he revealed: "Bayern want a fixed transfer fee of 50 million euros, plus a floating amount, with a total value of close to 60 million euros. We need to see if United agree to pay the money, De Ligt has made it clear that he only wants to move to Manchester United. I've heard that PSG are also interested, but they're out of the picture."

The 24-year-old has excellent defensive and defensive skills, similar to Harry Maguire, who has been nicknamed "Fat", but his shortcomings are his slower pace, easy handball in the box and transmission at the back. There are also concerns about his injury, as he missed the first few months of the game last season due to injury, but the data shows that in the past eight seasons, De Ligt has only missed 33 games due to injury, an average of 4 games per season, and is not a "glass man".

Meanwhile, United are also considering another Netherlands player on loan who played in the Bundesliga last season, with RB Leipzig's Xavi · Simons being one of Ten Hag's targets. The 21-year-old Netherlands attacker scored the world in the semi-final against England at the European Championship, causing a lot of transfer rumours.

Simons, a Paris Saint-Germain player, had a strong performance in the Bundesliga last season on loan, scoring eight goals and providing 13 assists in 31 games. According to the Daily Mirror, Manchester United have asked Grand Paris about Simmons' transfer. He has three years left on his contract, Leipzig wants a buyout, and Bayern are interested.

Simmons mainly plays in the number 10 role and can also play as a winger, so if United want to bring him in, it means that the future of captain Bruno · Fernandes could be in doubt. According to rumours, Ten Hag is also interested in another player in a similar style, Spain international Olmo.

Ten Hag was full of praise for Simmons, commenting on the United boss after the European Championship semi-final: "I liked Simmons' performance in that game, his drive, his passion to conquer the ball and analyse the game was top-notch. He has a huge drive, which is hardly Netherlands. I think you can tell that he was trained abroad and he almost has a kind of southern European tenacity in the game."

Simons, who came through the Barcelona academy, had his ups and downs, joining Paris in 2019 and being sold to PSV Eindhoven in the Eredivisie after just seven appearances. However, after PSV Eindhoven scored 22 goals and provided 12 assists in 48 games, Grand Paris activated a £5 million buy-back clause to buy him back, but did not intend to use it for himself, but was ready to sell it for money. Manchester United and Paris have been linked recently, with Uruguay defender Ugarte also being the protagonist of negotiations between the two sides. If a mandatory buy-out clause is embedded, Grand Paris could agree to another contract to loan Simmons, an arrangement that would also meet United's financial requirements.