When the season started for Manchester United fans, the thought of Antonio Valencia as the starting right-back probably wasn’t what they had in mind.
Matteo Darmian, who was bought by José Mourinho’s predecessor, Louis Van Gaal, hasn’t exactly seen eye to eye with the Portuguese manager, with his only opportunity so far coming against Feyenoord in the Europa League.
One man who, according to Mundo Deportivo in Spain, could be a possibility to replace one or both of United’s current options is Sergi Roberto, Barcelona’s 24-year-old defensive midfielder, now converted to right-back.
Starting all but three of his side’s games so far this season, the defender has made a good case for himself to be the club’s long-term option following Dani Alves’ move to Juventus, and the four assists in four league appearances have certainly helped.
The Spanish newspaper report Barcelona are thinking about renewing his contract, having told his agent informally that was the case, especially as they would prefer him to not get snapped up with his current release clause.
Rising from €30m to €40m because of some appearance goals, the amount is still worrying for the La Liga champions who feel it’s still a small enough amount to not bother the likes of Manchester United if they really wanted him.
Manchester City and Chelsea are also mentioned as options, as are Juventus, PSG and Bayern Munich, meaning that as soon as the season is over, their priority is to get Sergi Roberto to renew until 2021.
Until then, Messi, Suarez, Rakitic and ter Steven are the priority.
