Inter Milan have reportedly cooled off interest in Manchester United defender Matteo Darmian, turning their attention towards Atletico Madrid defender Sime Vrsaljko.
Italian publication Tuttosport have reported that Inter Milan have cooled off interest in Matteo Darmian with the Manchester United defender and Atletico Madrid right-back Sime Vrsaljko has now emerged as a top priority target for the Nerazzurri.
Matteo Darmian has had a bittersweet career at Manchester United. Starting life in English football strongly, Darmian was a regular for large parts of last season, but has been restricted to be a squad player under Jose Mourinho in the current campaign.
Darmian has made just 13 starts in all competitions this season, with Antonio Valencia being Mourinho’s first choice right-back.
While he has also been utilised as a left-back, Mourinho has not settled on one player as his favoured defender for that position, with the likes of Luke Shaw, Daley Blind and Marcos Rojo all handed chances to impress, but to no avail.
Inter Milan are looking to move Davide Santon on, according to the report by Tuttosport, and had previously set their sights on Darmian. However, the report states that they have deemed the 27-year-old to be unconvincing, thus cooling off their interest in the Italy international.
In Darmian’s stead, the report adds that Inter have turned their attention towards Atletico Madrid right-back Sime Vrsaljko, with the Croatian now emerging as a top priority target for the fullback position in the summer for the Nerazzurri.
Vrsaljko was only signed by Atletico Madrid this past summer after impressing in his two seasons with Sassuolo. Showing the willingness to contribute in attack while being solid in defence with superb positional skills and decent reading of the game, he was widely regarded as one of the best right-backs in Serie A last season.
However, since the move to the Vicente Calderon Stadium at the start of the season, Vrsaljko hasn’t solidified his place at the back for Los Rojiblancos and has had to share game time with Juanfran, with the 25-year-old Croat making just 13 starts in all competitions so far.
Inter are said to be long-time admirers of Vrsaljko’s talents and were among the many teams that were in the running to sign him before the Croatia international chose to move to Atletico instead. It looks like the Nerazzurri could be back in the market for Vrsaljko.
Inter have good relations with Vrsaljko’s agent, Simone Riso, who also got the Italian giants Roberto Gagliardini in the summer and it is said that they could have a good chance of acquiring the services of the Croatian international in the summer.
