The former
Manchester United player, now at Parma, discusses his time in England, the criticism of
Paul Pogba and living in lockdown
Matteo Darmian is discussing the players who impressed him the most during his four years at Manchester United. He describes how Wayne Rooney stood out from “the first training session” to such a degree that the Italian had to have a stern word with himself: he hadn’t moved to
England to stand around admiring his teammates in training; he had to make an impression himself.
Then he pauses and says: “There was another player who really impressed me …” and his mind wanders back to the day when a certain teenager trained with the first team for the first time. The kid in question blew Darmian away. “I still remember Marcus Rashford’s first session with the senior squad like it was yesterday. I immediately thought: ‘wow, this is an incredible player’. He did so many impressive things for a player of his age and the way he improved in every detail really impressed me.”