Regarding the Darmian quote (cover to Valencia), he most likely said that to get the best out of Darmian. He may well be the RB for the Italian national side but by saying this it keeps him grounded and working hard.
Also how would Valencia feel being dropped within days of Darmian signing?
Its about personalties and ego's.
Darmian will be given his chance and he'll most likely take it and he'll be the 1st choice RB.
As for the striker, it really could be absolutely anyone. Very intrigued! Him being so open about it and giving the media any kind of idea suggests to me we should have a new forward by the end of week or early next week, sounds very confident that it is close to being a done deal.