Matteo Darmian is close to call time on his Manchester United career. Manchester United are close to finalizing a deal with Juventus to loan the Italian full back to Italy until the end of season. Reports state that Juventus will have a buy-back option to buy the full back for 7.1m pounds once the loan term ends.
Darmian was signed by Louis Van Gaal in 2015 as a potential replacement for Antonio Valencia in the full back position, but could never cement his place in the United starting XI.
Darmian, in his short United career, featured in two major finals for Manchester United having come on as a substitute in the FA Cup final in the 66th?minute and even started in the Europa League final.
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Darmian helped United win both the finals he featured in. While United came back from a goal down at Wembley vs Crystal Palace in the FA Cup Final, they won comfortably vs Ajax in Stockholm in the Europa League final. Darmian was outstanding in Stockholm, and helped United complete their set of trophies by comfortably winning the Europa League final, one of Darmian?s best games in a Manchester United shirt.
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Even with two gold medals round his neck, Darmian only managed to don the famous Red jersey mere 59 times in his 3 years at Manchester United ? quite short of a time for a player who was brought in to replace an aging full back in Antonio Valencia. His performances against Ajax led many to believe United had finally found a long term full back, but changing managers, and their inability to put Darmian in a stable back four did not help his cause.
Jose Mourinho was sacked before the end of 2018, but he left the club after signing a promising full back ? a 20 year old named Diego Dalot, whose performances so far have been promising to say the least, one against Young Boys in the Champions League this season led Mourinho to go on to say that United might have found their right back for the next 10 years. That, perhaps was the last nail in Darmian?s coffin as a Manchester United player.
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Darmian may not have been able to cement his place but he did win a lot of United fan hearts after the Europa League final and he will surely be remembered for all the good moments.