When Jose Mourinho enlisted his expensively assembled squad in the summer, it was evident that the Portuguese had done a good job in reshaping the Manchester United player roster. The most significant aspect of the squad was the fact that his squad had two senior players for each position, a unique and crucial achievement for any manager serious about winning the Premier League.
Almost as if to pay homage to the “total football” vision of the legendary Johan Cruyff, an important aspect of modern day football is the ability of a single player to play in multiple positions. The player becomes an asset to the team given the long list of fixtures and the injury-prone nature of the English League. Of the many players capable of playing in multiple positions, one such man who has done so is Matteo Darmian.
The Italian right-back was brought in from Torino by Louis Van Gaal in the 2015-16 season for a fee of €18M. Although he was a promising signing, Darmian’s career at United never took off as he struggled to nail down a regular first-team spot.
His continued to struggle under Jose Mourinho as his erratic nature of defending prompted the Portuguese boss to move him down the pecking order. His relevance to the team was all but lost. It was then that Mourinho played his card and shifted Darmian to the left back.
The move turned out to be extremely effective as the Italian found a new found life at the club and his last six months of the previous season showed an upward spiral to his career graph at United. He became a key figure for United’s knockout stage in the Europa League.
This season, however, he has been replaced by Ashley Young at left back and it seems that Darmian is tired of his frustrating time at the club. He, now, wants an exit in the upcoming window. It is reported that Valencia is set to offer the club a new chance to build his career.
The Spanish club has enjoyed a tremendous start to the new season. They are currently second in the table with 27 points after eleven game weeks. Adding a player of his quality will certainly see him start over Martin Montoya and he will also be able to provide a good cover for Jose Gaya at left back.
However, if Jose is to let go of Darmian, it will mean that he will be one player short of his perfect two for each position calculation; something the Portuguese will not be keen on doing.
