MAN UNITED COMPLETE DOUBLE

The arrivals of Noussair Mazraoui and Matthijs de Ligt will boost Man United's depleted defensive ranks. (Photo by Alexander Hassenstein/Getty Images)

Manchester United have completed the signings of Noussair Mazraoui and Matthijs de Ligt from Bayern Munich, the Premier League club announced Tuesday.

A source has told ESPN that the deal is worth £60 million ($76.6m) including add-ons.

Netherlands centre-back de Ligt has signed a five-year contract at Old Trafford, while Morocco full-back Mazraoui signed a four-year deal with with the option to extend for a further year.

The double swoop takes United's summer spending towards £140m after also signing striker Joshua Zirkzee from Bologna and defender Leny Yoro from Lille.

Both De Ligt and Mazraoui previously spent time playing under Ten Hag at Ajax.

"As soon as I heard that Manchester United wanted me, I felt an excitement about the opportunity for a new challenge at such an historic club," De Ligt said in a Man United statement. "In the conversations that followed, I was impressed by the vision that the football leadership set out, and the role they saw for me in it.

"Erik ten Hag shaped the early stages of my career, so he knows how to get the best out of me and I cannot wait to work with him again. I know what it takes to succeed at the highest level, and I'm determined to continue that record at this special club."

Added Mazraoui: "Erik ten Hag played an important part in my development as a player, so it is exciting to be reuniting with him as I enter the prime years of my career. I know what he expects from his players, and I will give everything to help the group be successful."

The arrivals of De Ligt and Mazraoui follow the departure on Monday of right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka to West Ham for a reported £15 million ($19.2m).

Information from ESPN's Rob Dawson contributed to this report.

- ESPN

MAN UNITED STEP UP PURSUIT OF DE MATTHIJS DE LIGT - SOURCES

Matthijs de Ligt is being lined up by Manchester United. Mateo Villalba/Getty Images

 Manchester United have stepped up their interest in Bayern Munich defender Matthijs de Ligt, sources have told ESPN.

United have made contact with De Ligt's representatives and an official approach to Bayern is expected soon.

The club have turned their attention to the Netherlands international, who is available from Bayern, after reaching an impasse in their talks with Everton over a deal for Jarrad Branthwaite.

United have already seen a bid of £43 million including add-ons rejected by Everton, who value the 22-year-old at around £70m.

Manager Erik ten Hag is keen to bring in at least one centre-back this summer to replace Raphaël Varane, who left Old Trafford on a free transfer at the end of the season. Sources have told ESPN that there is also interest in Lille's Leny Yoro and Marc Guéhi at Crystal Palace.

Real Madrid are leading the race to sign 18-year-old Yoro and Liverpool are also interested in Guehi, who has impressed for England at Euro 2024.

Signing at least one centre-back is a key part of United's summer recruitment plan, as well as bringing in a striker and a central midfielder. United have followed De Ligt since his breakthrough at Ajax and were interested before he moved to Juventus in 2019.

He joined Bayern in 2022 but has slipped down the pecking order at the Allianz Arena. The Bundesliga giants signed Kim Min-Jae from Napoli last summer and are keen to bring in Germany international Jonathan Tah from Bayer Leverkusen before the start of the new season.

United are open to offers for Victor Lindelöf and Harry Maguire this summer. Fenerbahce are interested in Lindelof, who has a year left on his contract, but there has not yet been a formal approach to United.

The club remain in talks with Jonny Evans about a new contract. If Lindelof or Maguire leave, United will push to bring in two centre-backs, although the recruitment department are conscious that finances are tight and the squad needs another striker to replace Anthony Martial, who has left after the expiry of his contract.

- Rob Dawson, Correspondent

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: RULES EXPERT EXPLAINS GAME-CHANGING ‘ERRORS’ IN REAL MADRID’S COMEBACK

Reuters 

In one of the most epic Champions League semifinals in recent memory, Real Madrid produced another late UCL comeback, scoring twice in the final minutes to beat Bayern Munich 2-1 at the Santiago Bernabeu. It was Joselu who came off the bench for a brace, seeing the Spanish club advance 4-3 on aggregate, and they'll take on Dortmund in the final on June 1. 

But it wasn't without massive controversy.

As Bayern pushed forward in need of an equalizer to force extra time, defender Matthijs de Ligt found the back of the net with a brilliantly struck low shot from inside of the box. The only problem? The assistant referee put his flag up and called offside on the long ball preceding the Dutch defender's shot. De Ligt and teammate Noussair Mazraoui went up for a long ball into the box and appeared onside. Instead of keeping his flag down and letting the play continue, the assistant referee called the offside, the ref whistled it, and the play was called dead. That meant that it could not be reviewed as Real Madrid players stopped playing before the shot went off. 

De Ligt and Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel said the assistant referee apologized after the match with the coach calling it "disastrous" and "like betrayal" in an interview with TNT Sports.  

CBS Sports rule analyst Christina Unkel broke down the controversy on the Champions League Today Post-Match show and said there were multiple mistakes by the crew of Szymon Marciniak, Tomasz Listkiewicz and Adam Kupsik:

"Unfortunately, there are two officiating errors that occur here," Unkel said. 

"Here, he [Mazraoui] is not in an offside position, so we don't even have to get into discussion about whether he interfered with play. But, we have the first error by the assistant referee in raising that flag, which goes against the direction of holding that flag, especially where the attacking phase of play and it has not yet finished. And then we have the second error by the referee in accepting that recommendation by the assistant referee and blowing his whistle instead of saying, 'Thank you, I see you. I'm going to hold my whistle until this play goes out.' And this is very surprising. This isn't some of the best in Europe, this actually would be considered the best [refereeing crew] in Europe. This Polish trio, having refereed Champions League final, having just done the men's World Cup final. It was a very surprising decision by both the assistant referee and the referee which goes to an oversight in detail and attention at these critical moments.

"So it was not a good day for the third team today. "

Unkel went on to say that we could possibly see them punished in terms of future assignments of big games.

"It's never a good day when the discussion truly is about a clear, critical error by the refereeing crew. As we know, we call these key match incidents, game-changing decisions ... It doesn't sit well, not just only for that officiating crew naturally, but it doesn't sit well for the whole referee community, especially when we have three different layers of technology that can prevent us from making these types of mistakes," she said. 

CALF INJURY KNICKS DE LIGT OUT OF NATIONS LEAGUE FINAL

Defender Matthijs de Ligt suffered a calf injury in training with the Netherlands and on Monday withdrew from the squad for this week's Nations League finals, the Dutch football association said.