MatteoDarmian has spent just one full season at Manchester United, but impressive performances in the North have earned the Italian a place on the shopping lists of none other than Barcelona.
With the news coming in that Dani Alves has left Spain for Juventus, there is a gap in the Barcelona defence that needs to be filled, and 26-year-oldDarmian is apparently that man according toSpanish newspaperMarca.
Darmian made a healthy 28 appearances for the Red Devils in his debut season under Louis van Gaal, in a defensively strictside ending with the most clean sheets in the league.
Matteo Darmian: Made a tackle more often (every 23 mins) than any other defender to start 20+ PL matches last season #mufc
The Italian's impressive performances earned him a place in Antonio Conte's Italian squad for the European Championships this summer, and hestarted versus Ireland. However, with the appointment of Jose Mourinho at Old Trafford, there are signs he may not feature in the Portuguese's plans for the upcoming season.
Barcelona are desperately scanning the transfer market in search of a new right-back after the loss of one of their best players of the last decade, andrumours circulating that replacement right-back Aleix Vidal will also be sold.
Darmian of course has the natural Italian defensivementality, which has saw the Italian national side maintain a clean sheet in each game of Euro 2016 bar Irelandso far, and knock out current champions Spain.
It is unclear how much exactly Darmian would cost the Blaugrana, but given that Manchester United forked out £13m last summer on a four-year deal, it may be considerably higher.