With all the hype and media attention which surrounded the seismic signing of Bastian Schweinsteiger from Bayern Munchen, the equally important acquisition of right back Matteo Darmian perhaps went under the radar.
Manchester United have had some decent right backs since Gary Neville got his terminal injury, but they have seldom had a specialist for that area of the park.
Central defenders such as John O’ Shea, Wes Brown, Chris Smalling and Phil Jones have regularly filled in there.
Meanwhile Rafael da Silva hasn’t shown the consistency or fitness required to make the spot his own.
So the importance of the signing of Darmian should not be understated. And Louis van Gaal told a press conference that the new Manchester United signing will have to fight for his place.
“Morgan Schneiderlin has to fight Schweinsteiger, Michael Carrick, Daley Blind, these are the players who can play in the centre of midfield. Matteo Darmian has to fight with [Antonio] Valencia, he knows that,”
He then went on to talk about the qualities that he believes the Italian international will bring to the team.
“I want always a player who can defend in the first place. He is fast. He is also a reasonable header so that is also a plus,”
We believe that pace is more important in The Premier League than ever. So to hear the manager list speed as one of his primary qualities is reassuring.
Darmian is clearly a solid defender but all has the sense of adventure that makes full backs popular at Manchester United.
He loves to bomb down the line and often slaloms around opponents in mazy runs in the the final third.
We think that he looks like a great signing and, despite other acquisitions being higher profile, he may turn out to be the find of the summer.
Let’s take a look at the lad in action. Manchester United fans: a solid buy?
