Italian trio after Manchester United defender

Serie A trio Juventus, Napoli and AS Roma are prepared to battle it out for the services of Manchester United defender Matteo Darmian in January.

The Italy international has managed just five starts for United across all competitions with Jose Mourinho preferring Antonio Valencia and Ashley Young for the wing-back positions.

A recent report from BBC Sport suggested that Mourinho will have to offload some of his fringe players in order to recoup funds for January, and according to Gazzetta dello Sport, Darmian could be one of those sold.

The former Torino man is presently attracting interest from Juventus, Roma and Napoli with the latter currently top of the Serie A standings after 12 games into the season.

Juventus lost a key right-back in Dani Alves to Paris Saint-Germain last summer, and Darmian is being seen as a candidate to strengthen the position, whilst getting the opportunity to return to Turin.

Meanwhile, Napoli are without left-back Faouzi Ghoulam through injury for the season and this could assure Darmian of regular playing time ahead of next year's World Cup.

Roma sporting director Monchi has also previously monitored Darmian's situation at Old Trafford, and the Italian preferably has the choice between three clubs, should he end his association with United in January.