Agreeing a four-year contract with Manchester United yesterday evening, Torino’s Italian international right back Matteo Darmian is all set to become the Red Devils’ second purchase of the summer.
Following Memphis Depay to Old Trafford, this time Louis van Gaal has moved to address an area of his squad which definitely needed strengthening with Rafael now being deemed surplus to requirements after losing his way and Antonio Valencia a right winger by trade.
Speedy and an assured tackler, Darmian seems a sensible purchase for Manchester United with the transfer fee rumoured to be just under the £13 million mark – small change compared to the £27 million splashed out for Luke Shaw last summer!
While Darmian has earned 13 caps for the senior Italian national side to date, he still isn’t a household name here in the tavern so today our landlord is asking Red Devils fans what they know about their latest signing.
Our landlord has spotted a few of our Red Devils regulars ‘doing a Firmino’ by acting as if they’ve trailed Darmian’s career ever since he was a nipper but there’s no fooling our man in charge here in the tavern!
However, after a little research, here’s what our United supporters have come up with. Did you know these five things about the Red Devils’ latest recruit?
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Click on the image below to reveal the 5 things you didn’t know about soon to be Manchester United player Matteo Darmian.
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He made his first team debut alongside Andrea Pirlo
A former youth product of AC Milan, Matteo Darmian is still only 25-years-old right now but made his first team debut nine years ago for the Rossoneri in a Coppa Italia match against Brescia in which the San Siro giants won 6-3 on aggregate.
Replacing an AC Milan legend in Kakha Kaladze in the 46th minute, Darmian came on for one half of football while figuring alongside the likes of New York City FC new boy Andrea Pirlo, Alberto Gillardino and Yoann Gourcuff.
Racking up over 160 league appearances for Milan, Padova, Palermo and Torino so far in his professional career, he is fully expected to expand on that number greatly with Louis van Gaal fully expected to make him his first choice option at right back.
He already faced off with Wayne Rooney at the World Cup
England fans won’t be looking back on their 2014 World Cup campaign with any glee after exiting in the group stages but today our Manchester United fans batted an eyelid at the playing squads of Italy and England during that night in Manaus to find that Matteo Darmian started that fixture at right back.
Working in tandem with Lazio’s Antonio Candreva on the night down the right hand side to devastating effect, United fans are urging fellow supporters to watch the tape of that game in which Darmian was terrific for the 90 minutes.
An energetic player, Darmian is pacey down the right flank and will compliment Luke Shaw on the other side well when both players are playing to their maximum levels.
He once only cost £500,000
Darmian is transferring to Manchester United for a fee rumoured to be just under £13 million but once upon a time in Italy, he transferred from his first club AC Milan to Palermo for as little as £500,000.
With Italy’s top clubs often parting with promising youth products only to retain their ownership while bringing them back into the first team at a later date, Darmian was one who got away in joining the Sicilian side and it was at the Stadio Renzo Barbera where he really cut his teeth.
That said, he only played 11 times in Serie A for the Eagles before transferring to Torino where he racked up 133 appearances in Italy’s top flight before transferring to Manchester United.
He was Europe’s best tackler back in 2012/13
Despite being a right back by trade, it might be surprising to hear that Darmian was officially the best tackler in all of Europe during the 2012/13 season according to stats compiled by whoscored.com.
Achieving a tackling rate of 5.3 tackles per game during that campaign, despite this being a couple of seasons ago now, this will be music to the ears of Red Devils fans who have had to put up with the inconsistencies and bad attitude of Rafael in recent years.
So it appears United are getting a new full back who can tackle successfully, not to mention raiding up the right flank speedily – the perfect combination.
He can even play at centre back!
An extremely versatile customer, as well as playing at both right back, left back and even further as a right or left wing back, Matteo Darmian can also play as an emergency centre half.
Starting his career in the position, Louis van Gaal will be able to turn to the Italian international in this position if he suffers a similar injury crisis to the one endured last season.
Having to use yourh products such as Paddy McNair last term, despite the Northern Irishman’s impressive performances when called upon, to have somebody like Darmian who has played the role before will only enhance the options available to the Red Devils boss.
