3. Matteo Darmian
When this certain Italian arrived from Torino two summers ago, the expectations of him were high considering what a talent he was at a modest price of £12.7 million. By all means, his first few months went as well as he hoped but he struggled to gain any confidence for the rest of his debut season.
The impeccable form of Antonio Valencia this season has limited his action to minimal minutes – until the Ecuadorian sustained a broken arm in the 1-0 win against Manchester City. Since then, Darmian has started every other game which was overdue. His first start of the season came midway through September in the loss to Feyenoord, and it looks as if he will be leaving Old Trafford soon.
The emergence of Timothy Fosu Mensah doesn’t help his cause and neither will the return of Valencia next month. A return to Serie A seems likely, as life in England hasn’t seemed to work out for him as comfortably as it could have been.