Juve must pay to welcome Matt
MANCHESTER United have told Juventus to forget about signing their full-back Matteo Darmian on the cheap.
The Italian champions have identified Darmian as the No1 choice to replace Dani Alves, who is poised to join Manchester City.
Juve have also shown interest in Arsenal rightback Hector Bellerin, as have Barcelona.
But Bellerin is expected to spend one more season with the Gunners, forcing Juve to turn their attentions to Darmian.
United manager Jose Mourinho is in no hurry to sell Italy international Darmian, who can play on both the right or left flanks.
But if Juventus firm up their interest and Darmian asks to leave, United would consider a sale if they can make a profit on the £12million they paid Torino for the player in 2015. Mourinho is happy with Antonio Valencia at right-back and will give the injury-plagued Luke Shaw another chance to shine at left-back.
But Darmian, who played at left-back in the Europa League final win over Ajax, provides reliable cover and competition.
And after United’s injury problems at the back last season, Mourinho is reluctant to weaken his squad unless he can find an adequate replacement.
Amid the continuing speculation over his club future, Cristiano Ronaldo scored the winner yesterday as Portugal beat Russia 1-0 in the Confederations Cup in Moscow.
The 32-year-old Real Madrid star’s header – the 74th international goal of his career – left Fernando Santos’ men a point clear of the Russians at the top of Group A.