5 worst signings made by Louis van Gaal at Manchester United

#2 Matteo Darmian

Darmian has been woeful of late

The mere fact that Matteo Darmian still finds himself on the fringes of the first-team is something that is quite difficult to understand. The Italian fullback was signed from Torino for a fee worth €18 million and had an excellent first few months in the club. He delivered consistent performances, displayed a brilliant work ethic and significantly contributed to attacking moves too.

Van Gaal seemed to be extremely keen and was fond of Darmian particularly. The Italian even bagged the Club’s Player of the Month award in August 2015. However, as time progressed, the fullback failed to deliver consistently and has become a subdued player of the squad. He has failed to impress whenever given an opportunity and his attacking instincts seem to have died down too.

The fullback now just covers his flank and hardly ever wanders ahead in order to contribute to the attacking play. Whenever he goes ahead, Darmian leaves a lot of space and does not track behind in time. His performance against Brighton a couple of days ago was shambolic, to say the least. He neither provided any offensive impetus nor did he defend solidly.

The Italian has so far made 53 league appearances for Manchester United and hasn't notched even one assist. In a time when fullbacks are required to provide regular contributions in attack, Darmian has been unable to adapt to the changing demands.

His wayward crossing coupled with the lack of intent to go further up on the pitch devoids United from any kind of offensive action through the flanks. He has made 2.2 tackles on an average in these 53 matches, but his one-dimensional approach is unacceptable for a club of United's standards/

The fact that Darmian was compared with Gary Neville during his early days at Manchester United shows how the player failed to live up to the expectations of the fans.

Nowadays, Jose prefers playing Antonio Valencia over Darmian. Losing your place to a player who is not even a specialist in that particular position hurts huh? Ouch.