Eshlin Vedan
Manchester United defender Matteo Darmian is being targeted by Juventus as a replacement for Stephan Lichtsteiner. This is according to Goal, who claim that the Italian champions could offer Darmian a way out of Old Trafford this summer.
Darmian has struggled to earn regular game time with us this season and he could well be one of the players that Jose Mourinho might offload in the summer as he looks to reshuffle our defence. Though Darmian started the FA Cup win against Yeovil, he has not been seen playing in the Premier League since December 2 when we defeated Arsenal.
As Antonio Valencia has made the right-back position his own, Darmian has been linked with a move away from Old Trafford in the past three transfer windows, though nothing has materialised. Napoli and Roma have also taken notice of the Italian, whose time in the Premier League could be coming to an end.
Darmian arrived at Old Trafford in 2015 when Louis Van Gaal was our manager. Matteo has made 80 appearances for the club but he has struggled to usurp Valencia and become a first-team regular. Darmian has particularly struggled for game time since Mourinho’s appointment.
However, Darmian insisted last October that he did not regret having joined us.
“I made a choice [to come to Manchester United] and I don’t regret it,” Darmian said.
“Of course it’s normal that any player wants to play as much as possible. I work hard every week and I’ll keep doing it.
“I don’t always watch Italian football and I don’t know what will happen in the future, maybe there will be a chance to come back one day.”
It is likely that Darmian will be leaving. He is very clearly not a key part of our plans going forward and we should sell him in order to buy more options that Mourinho would enjoy working with.
From the player’s perspective, it is also good that he is being linked with Juventus, one of the best teams in Europe who have reached the Champions League final twice during the past three seasons.
