And then there were three.
Up until now, the two Italian clubs to be seriously linked with Manchester United’s Matteo Darmian were Roma and Juventus.
The former’s has been the ‘loudest’, so to speak, with Corriere dello Sport reporting it more than once, with the latter, who could see Stephan Lichsteiner leave soon, only recently being thrown into the mix.
On Wednesday, however, Napoli have apparently joined the queue, and it’s surprising there hasn’t been serious claims of an interest before considering their need for depth in the full-back role following Faouzi Ghoulam’s injury.
Gazzetta dello Sport are the ones doing the honours, with Il Mattino also briefly mentioning his name, reporting Cristiano Giuntoli, the club’s director of football, has tried to enquire about the Manchester United defender, who would ‘happily’ leave the club if the right offer came along.
A few problems stand in their way, and most of them are financial.
To start with, Napoli aren’t exactly thrilled at the thought of paying his wages, considering how high they are, but there’s also the fact they don’t know how much the Red Devils will want for the defender.
Once they know that, the plan is to have longer conversations with the player’s entourage about a potential transfer.
It’s worth pointing out that when Corriere dello Sport linked Darmian to Roma, they also mentioned the fact José Mourinho’s side would want around €17m for him.
If that is indeed correct, then Napoli could end up matching that, considering they were willing to spend around €20m on Atlético Madrid’s Sime Vrsaljko.
This isn’t the last we’ve heard of this, and there’s every chance Darmian will be one of the big talking points in Italy throughout January.
Yay…
