Diogo Dalot and Manchester United are in talks about a new contract. The right-back is happy at Old Trafford and is open to a long-term stay, having been optioned last month to extend his expiring contract by a year.
“We are negotiating,” confirms the 23-year-old Portuguese in an interview with fan channel The United Stand. ‘We will see to what extent both parties benefit from this. It’s no secret that I’m happy at this club. We’ll see how it goes.’
Dalot can count on a starting place in Erik ten Hag’s team when he is fit and has been praised several times by his trainer during the season. For example, Ten Hag said in a Christmas interview with VI that he initially had ‘his doubts’ about occupying the right-back position, but that Dalot filled that position ‘very well’ from the start of the preparation, so that strengthening that position was ‘not a priority’ anymore.
This is partly due to Dalot’s own discipline. The wing defender realized from the start that he had to be physically at ‘top level’ under Ten Hag. “His style and demands fit well with the way I like football to be played. He is a demanding coach who wants every player to be in top condition. So I had to demand a bit more from myself, especially prior to the preparation’, Dalot looks back. ‘I listen to what he asks of me. You can see that many players are progressing and that we are making progress as a collective. He’s one of the main reasons for that.”
This has come to the relief of the english club as Barcelona were interested in the defender. “We have been mapping things out for some time and we will strengthen the team if the opportunity arises,” mentioned Laporta.
Manchester United’s Diogo Dalot waspointedly mentioned as an option for the right-back position for weeks and was an interesting target as his contract expires at the end of the season.
