TFM is faster, can get forward more, is a better tackler. What do you mean by safer anyhow? Do you think JM is going for 1-0 wins like LvG did?, I don't. Give me a 3-1 ahead of 1-0 every time. One of those goals last Sunday was made by a chance created by Valencia. Let him go if he wants to and Roma/Napoli offer close to what we paid for him. He may want to keep his Italy place and stay in the shop window playing every week. His wages are 'only' £65k/w here. No great loss, and him leaving may even be a bonus.
Matteo Darmian
- Thread starter Loublaze
- Start date
-
In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
Is he on high wages? If not, it would make sense to keep him as a squad player if he's happy enough to be
Mourinho likes having 2 players per position, and going by that I would probably have him first choice back up for either fullback. Mourinho might prefer rojo and TFM though for their physicality, and if so, he will probably go. He isnt good enough to be a starter anyway so I'm not too fussed as even going forward I would want more pace and attacking to replace valencia when he is too old.
Another Van Gaal beauty.......At the end of the day it didn't really matter who Van Gaal signed in whatever position because as long as Rooney and Carrick followed orders and passed the ball back and forth to each other in central mid for 95% of the game then the philosophy was a roaring success
I think we would sell if we got a decent offer. Problem is the stingy Italian cnuts will probably try for a loan deal or something silly like £5m.
Ah, the Juve price. Only for the top Italian club. Run of the mill clubs (the rest) don't buy at that price.Really? I'd say there's several sorts of inflation represented in this picture:
Roma are big on loans with an option to buy. Not big spenders.
- Thomas Vermaelen is set to end his unhappy spell at Barcelona and join Roma.
- Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny has returned to Roma on a season-long loan.
- Tottenham defender Federico Fazio joined Roma on a season-long loan with an option to buy.
- Chelsea winger Mohamed Salah has joined Roma on a permanent deal following his successful loan spell last season.
H
Valencia has started this season well but isn't all that at right back despite how over-excited this forum seems to be. I'm struggling to see why we'd get rid of Darmian so soon when he has had one season to adjust to the Premier League.
Decent right backs are fairly difficult to come by, and TFM is unproven at first team level in that position.
He's a seasoned international with 26 caps for Italy, TFM is going to be amazing but he's very much at the start of his career.
Valencia has started this season well but isn't all that at right back despite how over-excited this forum seems to be. I'm struggling to see why we'd get rid of Darmian so soon when he has had one season to adjust to the Premier League.
Decent right backs are fairly difficult to come by, and TFM is unproven at first team level in that position.
To sell him would be stupid unless he wants to leave the club.
This one makes Anderson seem fit.Really? I'd say there's several sorts of inflation represented in this picture:
This time last year we were rating him about as highly as we're rating Bailly now. I'm not sure if that means Bailly is shit or if there's still more to come from Darmian, though.
Mourinho has actually won the Europa league,in 2003.
It was called the UEFA cup back then.
I'd definitely hang onto him this season, he can still turn it around. He was pretty solid for Italy in the Euros.
For the pennies we'd receive for him it's not worth selling.
For the pennies we'd receive for him it's not worth selling.
I wonder if Conte is monitoring him as a potential target for Chelsea. Don't think they're awash with full back cover. We'd probably get a better price out of them than any Serie A side.
I think i know what you mean mate, but Valencia only played at RB for the last few months of Rafaels time at the club.
He was awful defensivly for the majority of last season and that was an area i was hoping would improve this season, especially under Jose. But i agree with that bolded part, i doubt i've seen a less adventurous fullback in almost 30 years of watching United. Just never seemed willing to contribute going forward.
He's complete Pony.
It was actually Valencia that led to Rafael's departure.
Rafael got injured and missed the City game in November.Valencia came in and Rafael could barely get a look in from there.
He barely started any games from then on until being relegated to the youth team.
Can we have some sort of source posted in the OP? So bloomin lazy.
Says me who can't be arsed reading through the pages to find any source, but still.
Says me who can't be arsed reading through the pages to find any source, but still.
Napoli could be interested
Roma signed Bruno Peres and Vermaelen on loan (they sign every player on loan first)
Roma signed Bruno Peres and Vermaelen on loan (they sign every player on loan first)
Well not really mate, Van Gaal just didn't fancy Rafael as a player i think he was too attacking and took too many risks for his liking plus his injury record didn't help. After all LVG went out and bought Darmian a much, much less attacking fullback and started him in all of the pre-season and early season games ahead of Valencia. So obviously Darmian was going to be his first choice RB if he hadn't turned to shit after 4-5 games.
As was often the case with Rafa is absence from the team for majority of that year was mostly due to a series of unfortunate injuries. He cracked his calfbone in october out for 2 months returned in December, fractured his cheekbone in January didn't return until March and then fractured a rib in April season over.
Last edited:
Rafael was actually fit for a long time after January. He was fit enough to play u21 games .
He played those for a while Valencia and Mcnair were right backs .
You are contradicting yourself now. First you say it's because Van Gaal didn't rate him then you say it was because of injuries.
It was Valencia's presence in the team that meant that Van Gaal could send Rafael to the youth team. And he hardly got injured when playing there. By the time he fractured his rib,he was long out of favour.
I know he was on the bench the week after he fractured his cheekbone and then out of the squad for a while, but him being fit and not in the first team squad is because Van Gaal didn't rate him obviously.
The fact he was rarely even on the bench when fit after January should tell you how much LVG rated Rafa.
No i am actually not mate i said i don't think Van Gaal rated him as a player thats an opinion backed up by the fact he didn't play him for stretches when he was fit. I also said he missed large parts of the season with injuries thats a fact. One doesn't contradict the other. But the combination of both results in him rarely playing that season.
I think it'd be misguided to ship him off now. He can play left back and right back. He started extremely well for us, when he was keeping it simple and defending. Then he lost confidence as so many players did under Louis.
We've gone of tangent, but the main point , and I think one I have been trying to prove is that Van Gaal rated Valencia above him, thus he didnt see a need to play Rafa.
Thus Valencia in a way did see an end to Rafa's career.
His start is highly exaggerated. He started off well, not brilliantly and even then, he looked iffy at times. I would be happy to see the back of him, but I agree that our other options aren't very good / very experienced / can't play every game.
It's not the number of games, it's the fact that we'll be playing Thursday - Sunday, which is a huge physical exertion and not enough time to recover between games.
Arguably his lack of adventure going forward was a symptom of LVG's approach. Maybe he doesn't get in our strongest 11, but very capable backup and rotation option for midweek games.
Nah, he actually didn't look capable of going forward, to be honest. In fact, he rarely looked capable of being an actual footballer.
So who were all these defenders that Van Gaal ruined? Smalling and Blind formed the best defensive pairing in the league, stat wise. Valencia had become one of the best right backs in the league by the end of the season. Fosu and Varela looked quite good in their appearances. Even Rojo was decent at attacking. How is it that somehow only Darmian was Vangled in our back line. Has there ever been a United footballer who has garnered so many excuses for being shite?
Smalling and Blind excelled but that's it. Shaw started well last year but the injury makes it hard to properly judge.
I'm sorry, but I will never accept Valencia as a top level Right Back. He's fast and strong but with no real positional sense. His physical attributes help him get out of trouble he creates for himself.
LVG tried several young defenders over his 2 seasons; how many are credible starters for us now? Zero. He signed Rojo and Darmian, neither of whom showed the form for United that caused us to sign them in the first place. I'm quite happy for us to make more signings to upgrade on Darmian and/or Rojo, but I don't think it is essential.
I'd love to see the confidence in Valencia as a right back once he faces someone in the likes of coutinho, Sanchez or hazard.
It can't be any worse than Darmian, who got absolutely slaughtered by Sanchez last season.
Started off playing great last season until he was Van Gaaled. Hope he stays and regains his place in the first team.
but those players are the exception, any fullback would struggle against them.
don't push it
He's not athletic enough to play in this league as full back imo. It's a shame because he seems to have other attributes of a good defender. Would not be against him staying as a back up but he's not good enough to be first choice.
I must admit Darmian doesn't fill me with confidence when I see him start.
I think it's too early to write him off. He's relatively young and he'll be a regular starter for Italy in the near future (he did start in the Euros). Tony has done well and if he susses out his positioning he'll be great. TFM is maybe more of a DM or even a center back for that matter (I'd always take TFM over Darmian btw) and Jones is a crock. Darmian's versatility is an asset. I don't see the urgency in getting rid. He's probably not earning loads either.