Jose Mourinho signed Diogo Dalot from Porto for £19million in the summer of 2018 and the defender penned a five-year deal, but his appearances were limited in his first few seasons. He has implied he was surprised by the expectations and standards at Manchester United when he signed for the club.
The 24-year-old has continued to make progress with Erik ten Hag in charge and he was given a contract extension in May, which could see him stay at Old Trafford until 2028. But before that he was loan with AC Milan and he impressed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer when he returned from that spell, which earned him a more prominent role in the first-team squad.
Dalot enjoyed an excellent first half of last season and he’s beginning to recapture that form this term, making a total of 28 appearances and starting games regularly again.
The versatile full-back recently spoke to TNT Sports. and he reflected on his time at Old Trafford. “It’s been a rollercoaster of emotions, developing as a man and you know when you’re a kid at such a young age and you sign for a big club like this, sometimes you get a shock,” Dalot said.
“The expectations are always high, so you have to learn how to match that standard and when you’re young it’s difficult sometimes to see that you have to be there every single day.
“You have to fight every day to be at the highest level possible, so I’ve been saying that this is a progressive career so far in my short career, but in the club, it’s been very productive.
“You can often see winning being only about trophies or achievements with the team, but for me it’s been the small things, looking back and seeing the way I fought to stay at this club to get a position in this team.
“And I think for me, that’s been my biggest achievement so far and then collectively, you are here to win trophies and last season we did that, which was very special.”
Dalot has made 135 appearances for United and he’s scored five goals.
