Key Stats
Name: Diogo Dalot
Date of Birth (Age): March 18th, 1999 (21)
Signed: 1st July, 2018
Appearances: 34
Appearances this season: 11
Clean Sheets: 6
Tackles Won Per Game(Avg): 2.3
Aerial Duels Won Per Game (Avg): 3.0
Pass Success (Avg): 78.6%
Contracted Expires: 30th June, 2023
Analysis
The simple truth is we just haven’t seen enough of Diogo Dalot this season. When we have seen him he’s been average at best, so much so that he was struggling to make many matchday squads, especially after project restart. As well as it being a tough season with regards to fitness and form, Dalot has seen his opportunities to play limited due to the signing and impressive form of Aaron Wan-Bissaka at right back. An improved season from Luke Shaw and the emergence of Brandon Williams has meant that he hasn’t had the chance to play left back either.
The only highlight of his season would have been his his first goal for the club. The goal came in a 6-0 win at Prenton Park against Tranmere Rovers in the third round of the FA Cup. Aside from that there really hasn’t been much else to shout about and as the season went on and he returned to full fitness he seemed to fall out of favour with manager Ole Gunnar Solskjær. It’s even got to the stage where you feel that may be the trust and the relationship between the player and the manager has broken down. Timothy Fosu-Mensah was even preferred to Dalot towards the end of the season, a player who has hardly played for United since making his debut in February, 2016 because of loan moves and long term injuries.
Overall Season Rating – 4/10
Ambitions For Next Season
I’m really undecided about whether the club should look to sell Dalot or not this summer. You feel like he’s got an incredible amount of work to do to convince the manager that he can even be a back up player let alone a starter. Part of me sympathises with the player because often during his time with the club he’s been made to play out of position or he’s never really been up to full fitness. You can see the player loves the club and therefore he’s probably prepared to play anywhere, we have even play as a left sided attacker during his time here. However on the other hand when he has been given opportunities to play, you can’t say he’s grab these with bot hands. He looks vulnerable defensively and going forward he doesn’t deliver quality service in to the box on a consistent basis.
He is still only 21 though and there is surely talent in there? I just don’t see how he’s going to get the opportunity to prove it at Manchester United at this time. There’s been rumoured interest from the likes of Barcelona but surely he would find himself in a similar situation there? You hope for his sake wherever he may be next season that he gets some game time. There’s a lot of talk that United could look to strengthen in the left back position this summer. If that’s the case it may be beneficial for him to go out on loan, gain some valuable first team experience at decent level and then United can evaluate his future next season when they will be in a better position to judge his ability. No doubt about it though Diogo Dalot needs to be playing more games to kick start his career.
