Matteo Darmian Has Talent to Join Evra, Vidic as Bargain Manchester United Buys
The numbers, at least in the financially inflated modern era, in which status and quality are often linked to the size of the transfer fee and the wage packet, do not necessarily inspire supreme confidence in the signing of Matteo Darmian.
When Manchester United confirm they have signed the full-back from Torino in the coming days, as they are now widely expected to do, the transfer fee will likely remain undisclosed—but newspapers are confident it will not top an initial £13 million. The Italy international’s wage packet, meanwhile, has already been reported as being between a basic £30,000 a week, reported by the Guardian, and £45,000 a week, claimed by the Times, which is small change by recent standards.
Fans of Champions League clubs, as United once again are, have grown accustomed to even back-up players arriving for fees and salaries of more than double that, sparking questions about Darmian’s quality.
That would be unfair, however. The Legnano-born footballer joins with the most ringing of endorsements from his former club and a pedigree that suggests he could yet be a huge player for United.
“We have worked together for some time,” Torino coach Giampiero Ventura told Sky Italia (via the Guardian) on Wednesday, effectively confirming the deal. “Because of his desire, humility and will to achieve things, it’s right to grant him the opportunity to realise a dream to play in the Champions League in a team that will fight to win it.”
It is somewhat amusing that Ventura would frame the deal in terms of Darmian realising his “dream” of playing in the Champions League, considering the 25-year-old already has a winner’s medal in his trophy cabinet. Darmian may not have played a game during AC Milan’s successful 2006/07 European campaign, but as part of the registered squad, he nevertheless received a medal along with the rest of Carlo Ancelotti’s side when they beat Liverpool in Athens.
Darmian never quite got his opportunity at San Siro—despite making his debut as a 17-year-old—eventually enjoying a successful loan spell at Serie B side Padova before being sold in what was initially a co-ownership deal to Palermo. After a smattering of games for the Sicilian club, they bought out AC Milan’s remaining share in the player before selling him to Torino for a small profit. Turin became the city where Darmian would finally ignite his career.
Establishing himself as the club’s first-choice right-back soon after arriving, over the last two seasons, Darmian has elevated his career further, forcing his way into the national team and establishing himself in that narrow second tier of Serie A players who have more than proved their quality at a smaller club and made it an accepted fact that it is a matter of when, not if, he would be snapped up by one of the league’s established elite.
Manchester United should be praised for stepping in before that happened, then, signing him now at a reasonable cost—if the fees involved remind us of anything, it is the different economic reality all but the biggest European clubs operate in compared to Premier League sides—rather than in two seasons' time when his performances for one of Serie A's big clubs could have vastly inflated his standing.
It seems Darmian could have left Torino last year, following some eye-catching displays in an otherwise disappointing World Cup campaign for Italy, but more lucrative deals for Alessio Cerci and Ciro Immobile meant the club—ready to embark on a Europa League campaign after finishing seventh the previous season—decided they could not lose a third major asset.
“I told Darmian last year after the World Cup that if offers arrived for him I could not sell him then,” club president Urbano Cairo recently revealed, relayed by Eurosport. “We had already sold Immobile and Cerci and I could not afford to lose another excellent player."
Cairo continued:
“I promised him we would review his situation this summer. Football is like this and it’s normal that an extraordinary man like Matteo wants to try and win the Champions League. Torino can’t win the Champions League.”
United, thanks to last season’s return to competency, will at least have that opportunity. Darmian arrives in England as something of an unknown, but perhaps English fans should at least be a little aware of his quality. It was only 12 months ago when the right-back few viewers had come across before was one of the outstanding players in Italy’s World Cup group-stage win over the Three Lions, partly for his defensive efforts but mostly for his impressive support of Antonio Candreva down the right, where all the Azzurri’s danger came from.
Darmian’s engine was in evidence that night, his rare ability to get up and down the pitch and contribute in all phases of the game for the full 90 minutes on display. In that respect, he is like Antonio Valencia, who emerged as Van Gaal’s preferred right-back option last season, except with far better defensive instincts. Valencia, as willing and versatile as he is, will always be more of a midfielder than a defender.
Darmian is a true modern full-back, therefore plugging a weakness for United, but he can also play as a wing-back or even a centre-back—opening up Van Gaal’s options if he ever wants to revert to the three-man centre-back system he employed, to mixed results, in his debut campaign in charge at Old Trafford.
Van Gaal has seemingly decided against signing Nathaniel Clyne from Southampton to spend roughly the same amount on Darmian, whose Torino contract, unlike Clyne’s, is not due to expire in 12 months. They are similar players in that attacking is a key part of their game, although Darmian—almost 18 months older than Clyne—is perhaps more tactically astute and even more energetic than the determined ex-Crystal Palace player (he also gave Clyne a difficult night in a rare left wing-back appearance for Italy in a friendly against England earlier in 2015).
United will be paying him considerably less in wages, which in light of the above would give the deal the air of either a bargain or a cut-price move. The risk comes from the fact Darmian has no knowledge of the Premier League and might take time to adapt to its particular challenges. That is an uncertainty built in to any overseas signing, one that has derailed such transfers before. However, Van Gaal can mitigate this to a certain extent and initially use Valencia as his starter while the new boy adjusts.
There is little need to rush Darmian into the lineup, but surely the hope is he will become the first-choice option in that position over time.
Some of the best defenders in recent Premier League history have arrived to minimal fanfare and for relatively small fees; United alone can point to Nemanja Vidic and Patrice Evra in that regard. Darmian arrives at Old Trafford similarly unheralded, but he certainly has the potential to develop into a similarly important player for the Red Devils, assuming he is given an initial grace period to adjust.
In the short term, the deal has a more pragmatic advantage for United. Having plugged a glaring gap in the squad relatively cheaply, you would presume they still have plenty of resources left over to now concentrate on signing players who might be harder to dislodge from their current clubs, those elite players who can accelerate Van Gaal’s bid to close the gap between his side and champions Chelsea.
United undoubtedly needed an injection of attacking impetus and a right-back whatever else happened this summer, and those are areas they have addressed with the acquisitions of Memphis Depay and now Darmian. The rest of their business this summer now becomes more complex, their targets directed as much by whom they lose (possibly David De Gea) and are able to remove from the wage bill (potentially Robin van Persie) as to whom they can negotiate deals for.
That means a lot of additional moving parts—selling clubs will be juggling the same issues—which consequently means slower progress in all talks. It may now be a few weeks before United announce any further deals.
The sums involved might not inspire awe, but signing Darmian is astute business from United. They have signed one of the best right-backs in the world outside of the established elite for a fee that will not harm their chances of signing bigger stars later in the transfer window.
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