Matteo Darmian is discussing the players who impressed him the most during his four years at Manchester United. He describes how Wayne Rooney stood out from “the first training session” to such a degree that the Italian had to have a stern word with himself: he hadn’t moved to England to stand around admiring his teammates in training; he had to make an impression himself.
Then he pauses and says: “There was another player who really impressed me …” and his mind wanders back to the day when a certain teenager trained with the first team for the first time. The kid in question blew Darmian away. “I still remember Marcus Rashford’s first session with the senior squad like it was yesterday. I immediately thought: ‘wow, this is an incredible player’. He did so many impressive things for a player of his age and the way he improved in every detail really impressed me.”
In Darmian’s mind there is no limit to what Rashford can achieve if he stays fit and continues to develop. “If he continues to work the way he has done so far he can be a Ballon d’Or winner. I’m convinced of this. He impressed me the most of all the players at United and he’s very young and can still improve. For me he can reach the level of Kylian Mbappé and compete for the Ballon d’Or for years to come.”
Darmian is back in Italy now, with Parma, having moved back to Serie A in August last year in search of more first-team football. He looks back at his time at United fondly, though, having made 92 appearances for the club. The Italian full-back was a surprise acquisition for Louis van Gaal’s United in 2015. Few in England had heard of the former Milan academy player, although he had starred in Italy’s 2-1 win against England in Manaus at the 2014 World Cup.
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His first season at United was the most successful one, from a personal point of view, as he made 28 league appearances and won the FA Cup, having come on as a substitute in the 2-1 victory against Crystal Palace, and he says his time at the club was “an amazing adventure that stays with you for the rest of your life”.
When we speak on WhatsApp/Zoom/telephone it is clear how much representing United and playing at Old Trafford meant to the 30-year-old, who is currently waiting for the Serie A season to start up again. “I’ll be honest and say that I remember my first game for United being an incredible emotion,” he says. “I felt like a child. Old Trafford is something fantastic, there’s a reason that it’s called the field of dreams. My debut was perfect because we beat Tottenham at home and I heard the fans screaming my name: a wonderful feeling. I felt a lot of pride but also the responsibility to play for one of the best clubs in the world.”
Darmian’s main regret is not winning the league title with United during his time at the club but he did add the Europa League to that FA Cup victory and says that, while there was pressure to win things at the club, it was never made oppressive. “When you play for Manchester United you just have one objective: to win as much as possible. It’s too big of a club to think in any different way.
“We felt a responsibility to win and there was the pressure to go back to a certain level. But that’s normal for a top club and the directors never made it a burden: everyone wanted to win the Premier League, it’s normal when you are at Manchester United.”
Darmian played for Van Gaal, José Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjær at United and is in no doubt that the Norwegian is the right person to take United forward, despite not being given many chances to shine under the former United striker’s reign. “I can only speak well about Solksjær, believe me,” Darmian says. “I would give him a long-term contract. He’s a very prepared coach and Manchester United has started this project, this journey, with many young players, many British players and they will continue with this project. Because of the person I got to know, I hope Solskjær has success at the club.
United have gone from winning the league regularly to suffering from inconsistency after Sir Alex Ferguson left the club. During Darmian’s time they finished fifth, sixth, second and sixth. Players, like the managers, have come and gone and many have struggled to settle, leading to criticism of not only those players but also the executive vice-chairman, Ed Woodward.
One of those players is Paul Pogba, brought back to United after four years at Juventus, for a world record £89.3m, in a summer in which the club also signed Eric Bailly, Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Darmian knows Pogba well and is confident he will return to the level that made United sign him in the first place.
“Paul is my friend and I have an excellent relationship with him. First of all: we are talking about a real champion here, a great footballer, but even they can have some periods when they don’t do as well [as they would like]. The real “problem” with Pogba at United, I think, was the price the club paid for him and that conditioned the way people perceived him.
“There has been a lot of unjustified criticism towards Pogba, for example that he doesn’t work hard enough, but he always gave his best, I can assure you, in every training session. In my opinion his performances were good in recent years, they talk about him too negatively [in the UK].
“Did I see Pogba unhappy or willing to leave? No, I honestly didn’t see him sad or unhappy, quite the opposite, for all the time I was in Manchester, Paul was absolutely happy with his decision to go back there. He really cares about doing well at Manchester United.”
Darmian has been back in Italy for nine months now, seeing some of his former teammates, such as Romelu Lukaku, who is at Internazionale, and Chris Smalling (Roma) excel at their clubs. His own club, Parma, are ninth and aiming for a place in Europe when football restarts. “I was lucky I could join Parma. Their sporting director, Daniele Faggiano, called me and enabled me to return to Serie A, a league I knew well. I joined a good group of people and that always helps with everything.
At the moment we are still focused on avoiding relegation, that is the main objective. But it’s an ambitious club and that’s what convinced me to pick Parma so who knows what we can achieve. As for the national team, playing in the Euros in 2021 for Italy is something I want to do at all cost.”
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For now though, everything in Italy, as in the rest of the world, focuses on coronavirus. Italy is one of the worst hit countries in the world and football has become insignificant for the time being. “It’s a very complicated situation unfortunately,” Darmian says.” I’m spending the quarantine at home like everyone else. With my family and our young child which always keeps us busy, so we are never bored. We have a balcony, so we can go out and get some fresh air when the weather permits it.
“Will Serie A be able to finish or will the season be voided? Well, now the most important thing is health and we must focus on that rather than the league. Everything else comes after that.”