Juventus fans celebrate Man Utd move for ‘finished’ Danilo

Carlo Garganese

• Updated: 12 Nov 2024 01:59 CST
• 4 min read

Juventus fans are rejoicing at reports that Manchester United are planning to sign crisis-hit defender Danilo during the January transfer window.

Gazzetta dello Sport and multiple sites in England have reported that United are working on a potential deal for the 33-year-old stopper.

United are in the market for a defender who is adept at playing in a back three, which is what new manager Ruben Amorim uses in his 3-4-3 or 3-4-2-1 system.

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Danilo spent many years under former Juventus manager Max Allegri playing in a back three and so United feel he would slot in seamlessly.

As he also boasts Premier League experience from his time at Manchester City, United also feel he would quickly settle in.

Juventus are open to selling Danilo for a couple of reasons. First of all his contract expires at the end of the season and they do not play to renew it, so would happily take a small fee for the veteran.

Secondly, new Juventus manager Thiago Motta is not the biggest fan of the player with Danilo down the pecking order in his back four. The Brazilian has only started three Serie A matches this season from 12, even despite the ACL injury to star defender Gleison Bremer.

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Danilo a disaster this season

When he has played this season, Danilo has been an unmitigated disaster.

He started three matches in October in which Juventus conceded seven goals in total. He conceded two penalties in this time and was also sent off while giving away a spotkick in the 1-0 defeat to Stuttgart in the Champions League.

When he barely featured at the start of the season, Juventus did not concede a single goal in their first five Serie A matches.

Once Danilo started playing, Juve transformed from the best defence in the league to the leakiest overnight.

Having been removed from the starting XI for the last three matches, Juventus have returned to being solid with just one goal conceded in these games.

The overwhelming reaction from Juventus fans to the reports that Danilo could leave in January has been one of excitement.

He is considered by Juventus fans and experts as completely finished at this level. He lacks the pace and reactions to keep up to pace in Serie A, let alone in the Champions League or Premier League.

He has been incredibly error-prone this campaign as shown by the penalties he conceded, while his confidence is at rock bottom.

In a back three, he will certainly be more protected and comfortable than in Motta’s four-man backline, but this is a transfer that Man Utd certainly should not be making. He would be another Casemiro or Bastian Schweinsteiger.