It’s been a frustrating period for Diogo Dalot after he signed for Man Utd this past summer as injury has ruled him out of contention.
As per BBC Sport, the Red Devils splashed out £19m to prise him away from Porto, and so evidently Jose Mourinho believes that he has a big future ahead of him.
As noted in United’s tweet below, the 19-year-old completed 90 minutes in the U23s game against Reading on Friday night, and so it marks a key checkpoint in his recovery from injury as he’ll hope that he can now start knocking on the door for a place in Mourinho’s starting line-up.
#MUAcademy U23s: FT – #MUFC 1 Reading 1. Josh Bohui’s 66th-minute strike from Zak Dearnley’s low cross earns a point for the Reds at Old Trafford. Diogo Dalot completed 90 minutes, Marcos Rojo played for 55. pic.twitter.com/F6tnPKnP78
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) September 14, 2018
Competition will be fierce though and so the youngster still has work to do to climb the pecking order, but with the Champions League getting underway next week coupled with the cup competitions and Premier League, Mourinho will undoubtedly need to rotate as the campaign progresses.
With that in mind, Dalot will surely get his opportunities to impress, but fans had a mixed assessment of his performance on Friday with many highlighting the same strengths and flaws in his game.
While the supporters below were quick to praise his attacking ability which should give Man Utd a different dynamic going forward along with Luke Shaw’s resurgence so far this season, there are still seemingly question marks over Dalot’s defending which will of course need to be worked on.
Whether it’s a lack of match fitness or not, the fact that United have conceded seven goals in just four league games so far this season means that Mourinho will not want any more defensive vulnerabilities being added to his backline.
If Dalot can show improvement in that regard, he may well be featuring regularly before too long…
Once Dalot adapts, he and Shaw will transform our attack with pace and width. We’re sorted at fullback now.
— James. ? (@mufcszn) September 14, 2018
Dalot’s overlaps are just relentless. He never runs out of energy #mufc
— Busby (@SirMBusby) September 14, 2018
More of the same from Dalot so far tonight. Attacking-wise, he’s been very much involved on the right but needs a bit work with his positioning defensively…
If there’s an apt comparison, Dalot is similar in style to João Cancelo. Very attack-minded. #mufc
— Reginaldo Rosario ?? (@Regi1700) September 14, 2018
Good Effort to get forward from Dalot
He’s definitely not afraid to get up the pitch as we’ve been told by Porto counterparts. #MUAcademy pic.twitter.com/8wUHWn5DWw— samir.? (@hashtagmutd) September 14, 2018
Still felt dalot was rusty AF defensively.
On the other hand. Chong was absolutely on fire.
Everytime he had the ball. He did something special.. Unreal talent.— Pramodh ? (@Prammie35) September 14, 2018
Still felt dalot was rusty AF defensively.
On the other hand. Chong was absolutely on fire.
Everytime he had the ball. He did something special.. Unreal talent.— Pramodh ? (@Prammie35) September 14, 2018