Jose Mourinho didn’t need any more problems this summer, given that the Manchester United manager is currently missing a plethora of players that made the latter stages of this summer’s World Cup, he is clearly unhappy with the club’s current lack of transfer business and his current squad on this pre-season tour of the US is mostly made up of players that will likely not feature in this upcoming campaign.
To make matters worse, Antonio Valencia’s injury sustained in the recent 0-0 draw with San Jose Earthquakes looks to be more serious than first thought, with the Ecuadorian now expected to be missing for United’s opening game of the Premier League season against Leicester City on August 10th. Matteo Darmian, purchased from Torino in 2015 filled in against AC Milan on Wednesday night, but Mourinho has confirmed that the player has expressed a desire to leave Old Trafford, having failed to nail down a regular place in the side under the Portuguese:
“Matteo wants to leave and I think when a player wants to leave, if the right offer arrives, you have to be human and let the player follow his instincts but not at any price obviously and, until now, the offers we’ve got for Matteo are not even close to being accepted,” said Mourinho in his post-match press conference in quotes carried by Manutd.com.
It’s not as though United are suddenly shorn of options should the Italian leave, with Timothy Fosu-Mensah, who spent last season on loan at Crystal Palace available and frequently played in the position, available for selection. The Dutch youngster has yet to prominently feature under Mourinho, but given the current situation, and with Darmian likely to leave Old Trafford this summer should the right offer arrive, this could be Fosu-Mensah’s chance to finally break into the United side.
