Diogo Dalot – Skills of the Portuguese Defender

Diogo Dalot – Skills of the Portuguese Defender

José Diogo Dalot Teixeira (Portuguese pronunciation: [diˈoɡu dɐˈlo]; born 18 March 1999) is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a right-back for Premier League club Manchester United and the Portugal national team.

Dalot is a product of the Porto youth system and made his professional debut for the club’s B team in January 2017. He made his first-team debut in a Taça de Portugal game in October 2017. After making eight appearances for Porto, he joined Manchester United in June 2018 for a reported fee of €22 million (£19 million). From October 2020 to June 2021, Dalot was loaned to Italian Serie A club AC Milan.

Dalot was a youth international and represented Portugal from under-15 to under-21 level. He was a member of the under-17 squad that won the 2016 UEFA European Under-17 Championship. He made his senior international debut for Portugal at UEFA Euro 2020.

During the summer of 2021, Manchester United were interested in signing another right-back. Meanwhile, Milan, who were impressed with Dalot during his loan move with the club, began negotiations with Manchester United to sign him on permanent basis. After returning to Manchester United, he impressed coach Ole Gunnar Solskjaer with his performances during pre-season. Borussia Dortmund were also interested in signing him on a loan deal, but he decided to remain at United to compete with Aaron Wan-Bissaka for a starting position. On 22 September, Dalot was given his first start of the season, featuring in a 1–0 home loss to West Ham United in the third round of the EFL Cup. Since then, he has had limited opportunities with two starts and three substitute appearances. He played against Villarreal in a Champions League group stage match after Wan-Bissaka was suspended for two games.

On 2 December, Dalot was given his first start in the league under interim manager Michael Carrick, putting an impressive performance and creating the second goal in a 3–2 home win over United’s rivals Arsenal at Old Trafford. Following the arrival of interim manager Ralf Rangnick, Dalot cemented his place as starter for the club, following his solid performances in the club’s next two matches against Crystal Palace and Norwich City.

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