Manchester United full-back Matteo Darmian is attracting interest from Italian champions Juventus.

The Champions League finalists could lose Dani Alves this summer with the former-Barcelona man potentially reuniting with Pep Guardiola at United's rivals, Manchester City.

Should Alves leave the club, Man United's Darmian will be one of their targets.

Darmian a Juventus target

According to reports on Wednesday, United will listen to reasonable offers for Darmian, who they value at £18m. Louis van Gaal signed Darmian for £12.7m in his first summer at the club.

The Italian defender has previously been linked with a return to his home country where he played throughout his career before joining the Reds, signing for Torino in 2015.

Juventus are understood to have drafted a list of potential replacements for 34-year-old Alves. Among others such as Valencia's Joao Cancelo, Real Madrid's Danilo and AC Milan's Mattia de Sciglio is Darmian.

Juventus preparing for life without Alves

With United, despite a storming start to his career in opening stages of the 2015/16 season, Darmian has often struggled. His defensive positioning has been questioned and his attacking threat has been minimal. In periods of good form, he's been excellent. Most of the time, though, he's been quiet.

The constant moving of positions hasn't helped. Louis van Gaal shifted Darmian from right-back to left-back to left-centre-back in his two seasons at the club. Mourinho has used him on both flanks and infrequently at centre-back.

Darmian joined Utd for £12.7m in 2015

A back three at Juventus could suit his style of play more. For United, Darmian has had to be used due to injuries to Luke Shaw, but this would signal an intention to either sign a new back-up for Shaw, a new left-back entirely, or allow young Demi Mitchell, an academy product, to act as Shaw's understudy.

Antonio Valencia is unchallenged at right-back, making the position his own in a season where he was voted Players' Player of the Season for United.

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About the author
Harry Robinson
Deputy Editor-in-Chief at VAVEL UK, and Manchester United Editor.