Manchester United defender Matteo Darmian has been lined up as Juventus’ preferred replacement for Dani Alves as the Brazilian gets set to leave the Serie A champions.
The Brazilian looks destined to sign for Manchester City on a two-year contract once he has come to an agreement with Juve over the early termination of the two-year deal he signed with them in the summer of 2016.
Raiola could ruin Donnarumma's career
And with the Champions League finalists resigned to losing the former Barcelona right-back, they have put Darmian squarely at the head of their list of potential targets to fill Dani Alves’ boots.
The Italy international has enjoyed a mixed spell so far at United, with Antonio Valencia, Marcos Rojo, Guillermo Varela, Ashley Young, Luke Shaw, Daley Blind and Tim Fosu-Mensah all being favoured at full-back at various stages during his two years with the club.
Getty Images
Getty Images
And while he did fight his way back into the side under Jose Mourinho towards the end of the 2016-17 campaign, even turning in an excellent performance in the Europa League final win over Ajax, Darmian could well be allowed to leave this summer as the Portuguese manager looks to bolster his squad for a serious Premier League title challenge.
Ferdinand wants Ronaldo back at United
Darmian spent much of his spell at Torino between 2011 and 2015 as a wing-back, and having excelled in the same position for the Italian national team he is seen as an ideal addition to a Juve side which has played primarily with a back three and wing-backs for the past six seasons.
The 27-year-old last week got married to long-time fiancée Francesca Cormanni in a ceremony close to his home town of Legnano, and he could now be set to return to his homeland for good thanks to Juventus’ interest.
Darmian cost United around £14 million when Louis van Gaal snapped him up from Torino in 2015, and he previously played for AC Milan and Palermo. He also has 30 international caps to his name and was part of the Azzurri side which beat Liechtenstein 5-0 in a World Cup qualifier earlier in June.