3 reasons why Matthijs de Ligt was right to turn down Barcelona's contract offer

#1 It might be in his best interests to remain at Ajax and continue his development

De Ligt could remain in Netherlands to continue his development

If there is one thing history has thought us, it is that more often than not, highly rated youngsters are usually burned after taking hasty decisions to star on the biggest stages.

While many might point to Kylian Mbappe and how well he is handling his time in the spotlight despite his young age, it must be noted that the PSG forward is the exception rather than the norm and the annals of football is littered with a plethora of youngsters with tremendous potential who frittered out simply because they were thrust onto the big stage prematurely.

Martin Odegaard, Renato Sanchez and Mario Gotze are just some of the more recent examples of players in this category, while going further back we find names like Adriano and Bojan Krkic who faded out after showing much promise in their younger years.

While his countenance and maturity might suggest otherwise, the step up to a club like Barcelona and the pressures associated with it might be too much for the young shoulders of Mattijs de Ligt to carry and given the unforgiving and brutal nature of fans at mega clubs like Barcelona, it might be in De Ligt's best interests to remain at Amsterdam for another season or two and continue with his development.