Matteo Darmian Hints at Man United Exit Amid Reported Juventus Interest
Manchester United defender Matteo Darmian appears to have dropped a fairly strong hint that he plans to leave Old Trafford this summer after falling out of favor with Jose Mourinho.
Darmian joined United from Torino for around £13m during the reign of Louis van Gaal and enjoyed a relatively promising first season, in spite of a couple of unfortunate injury layoffs.
But he failed to kick on and impress Mourinho, starting only 15 games in the Premier League in 2016/17, although he did play 90 minutes in each leg of the Europa League semi final against Celta Vigo and the triumphant final against Ajax.
Darmian has specifically been linked with Juventus in recent weeks and months. And despite diplomatically and understandably pledging his allegiance to United, he has admitted to Sky Italia that he misses Italy and will evaluate his future at the end of the season.
"I am part of one of the biggest clubs in the world and I am proud of this, I have the chance to win important trophies," he said.
"However, there is a nostalgia for Italy and I miss it. Now I think about finishing the season and then we will see to make the evaluations.
"Juve is a great club and I am happy to be of interest to such an important club. I have my goals in mind and we will certainly make the necessary evaluations in due course."
Primarily a right back, Darmian had operated on the left for United, but the completion of Ashley Young's transition into a defender has closed that avenue of opportunity. As such, the Italian has played even less this season, given just 16 minutes of Premier League action since October.
Darmian has only got on the pitch once in the Premier League since the turn of the calendar year and hasn't even made the bench in 15 of United's last 18 league games.
He now has just one more season left on his contract and a sale this summer would allow the Old Trafford club to recoup some of their investment before potentially losing the player as a free agent in the summer of 2019.
