Matteo Darmian set to leave Manchester United

Manchester United defender and occasional squad member Matteo Darmian looks likely to leave the club this summer.

Darmian impressed in his first game for United against Tottenham Hotspur under Louis van Gaal, but has struggled to play way on every single occasion since then. As a player who struggles to pass, tackle, run and cross, he has found it difficult to be an effective presence on the pitch.

Despite that, plenty of Italian clubs remember him as a more competent presence due to his good form at his previous club, Torino, and he has regularly been linked with a move back to Serie A.

Both Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer have eschewed the chance to make him a first-choice full-back on either flank, meaning he has barely featured for the club for the last two years, but apparently he’s a decent bloke, which marks him out as an unusual character compared to some current United players.

The Daily Mail speculates that he could soon be on his way from Manchester, as United look to cut their wage obligations and raise transfer funds for the transfer window, because most of their players are well below the standards of ability and attitude to deserve to stay.

His most likely destination at the moment is not back to Italy, but to Spain, after Valencia opened negotiations for the player last week. They offered £8 million, around half what United paid for him, but given he has shown very little on the pitch for the last few years it’s not like they can demand more than that. Get rid.