After facing a frustrating period to start his Man Utd career due to injury, Diogo Dalot made his debut on Wednesday night in their win over Young Boys in the Champions League.
As per BBC Sport, the Red Devils splashed out £19m on the 19-year-old this past summer, thus showing immediate faith in his qualities given the size of the price-tag.
Unfortunately for the talented youngster, he has been forced to wait to make his mark due to an ongoing injury problem he suffered with over the summer, but after steadily making his comeback with the U23s side, he was finally able to make his first appearance for the senior side in midweek.
Based on the comments below, it’s fair to say that Mourinho was pleased with what he saw from his summer recruit, and he made a big prediction about the potential longevity that he sees Dalot enjoying at Old Trafford.
“For Diogo it was his first match after knee surgery, a very good, solid performance,” Mourinho said, as noted by ESPN. “Everybody could see the potential and he is a 19-year-old player who has more than 10 years to play for Manchester United.”
Time will tell if Dalot can show the consistency and quality required to remain a key figure for Man Utd for that long, while he’ll also be hopeful that he can steer clear of further injury problems in the future.
Nevertheless, it’s a positive start to life at the club as United continued their improved run of form with a win in Europe, and they’ll look to continue that against Wolves in the Premier League this weekend.
With stalwart Antonio Valencia left out of the game in Switzerland due to the artificial pitch potentially being an issue for his knee, as per Mourinho, it remains to be seen if he is brought straight back into the starting line-up for the game on Saturday, or if Dalot has indeed done enough to keep his place.