Matteo Darmian – Scout Report
The need for a decent defender never is understated, every club looks to sign that next defender who can make a difference to their squad, in this day and age of attacking football a young defender is something of a rarity but Arsenal might be in for an Italian stallion who made an impact in the World Cup and has slowly progressed into becoming one of the defenders to keep an eye out for in the future.
Matteo Darmian impressed during the 2014 World Cup for an Italian side that really didn’t do much. Darmian was fantastic in the tournament and got a few teams excited, but no one actually made a move for the 24-year-old, he has since then continued to play for Torino. We look at Darmian and just what he could provide to a team.
The next Italian defender who could be great
Darmian, now 25 has played for his current club, Torino since 2011 and was bought from Milan and Palermo who co-owned him, something which is a norm in Italian football. He helped the club to rise from the second division and his breakthrough season came in the 2013-14 season when he helped Torino finish 7th in the league and was voted as the best right back in the Serie A. During the 2014 World Cup he was the only Italian player who seemed to be up for the tournament and in 2015 he was named as the best player for the National side in the year 2014.
The 25-year-old started his career as a centre back but as per most cases for young players, he was shifted to a full back. He is equally adept at playing as left or right back but prefers playing on the right side. He can play as a winger as well but is more inclined to play as a defender. He has great pace and stamina, something which helps him bomb up and down the right-hand side as he joins in attack time after time.
His tackling is to be admired as well, especially for someone who is so young. Darmian averaged the most tackles per game in the 2012-2013 season from amongst the top 5 leagues in Europe. Darmian doesn’t really have a negative side to his game, he might not be the most physically gifted player regarding his bulk but that is not much of a problem for the youngster as his pace makes up for that.
Whichever club does try to sign the defender, they would have to fork out a rather cheap amount with the price range for the youngster touted to be around 10 million and that would be an investment worth making.