Ventura: ‘United bizarre with Darmian’

By Football Italia staff

Italy CT Giampiero Ventura says Manchester United are acting in a “bizarre” manner with Matteo Darmian.

The Azzurri face San Marino and Uruguay in friendly matches, before a World Cup qualifier with Liechtenstein on June 11.

With the San Marino game tomorrow, Italy are suffering a dearth of full-backs, with Mattia De Sciglio, Alessandro Florenzi, Emerson Palmieri and Davide Zappacosta all out.

“I’d also add Darmian, he doesn’t have permission from United to come to us until June 5,” Ventura pointed out in his pre-match Press conference.

“A bizarre choice, as he’s been stopped since the Europa League final, and I think we’ve lost him for the Uruguay game too. A bizarre choice. “We’re not going to cry though, we’ve lost many players over the months but locally we have a lot of youngsters thanks to the training camps.

“[Andrea] Conti, [Danilo] D’Ambrosio and [Leonardo] Spinazzola will be important for us in the upcoming matches.

“It seems that [Andrea] Barzagli, [Leonardo] Bonucci and [Giorgio] Chiellini will all play [in the Champions League final] on Saturday and I’ve spoken to all three of them.

“They’re playing on June 3 and then we play June 7, a very important friendly for us and I asked them all to give their availability.

“The response was total availability, but there’s a further step from being available to being healthy.

“We hope all three of them will be there, because [Alessio] Romagnoli and [Daniele] Rugani have physical problems.

“I want to compliment them though, they’ve been a surprise even for me. They’re an example for the younger ones.

“As for the final, I think it’s 50-50 but Juve are going in with an awareness of their own ability and the desire to win.”

The FIGC has opted to make all of the Under-21 players available for the European Championships, is that a surprise?

“There’s a bit of a concern, I’m not going to deny that. Not least because we have some injuries.

“That said, among colleagues we have to look after everyone’s interests. I’d already told [Luigi] Di Biagio he could take all of them.

“Who will play tomorrow? I’ll say [Simone] Scuffet, and as for the rest you’ll find out.”

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