Diogo Dalot admits he’s thankful for Aaron Wan-Bissaka despite Manchester United departure

Diogo Dalot has admitted that he’s thankful for his competition with Aaron Wan-Bissaka during the pair’s time at Manchester United.

Diogo Dalot‘s emergence under Erik ten Hag has been a joy for Manchester United fans to witness over the past two seasons.

The Portuguese right-back arrived at United at just 19, but his career initially struggled to take off, hindered by recurring injuries that plagued the young talent from FC Porto.

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Loaned out to AC Milan, with Aaron Wan-Bissaka established as the first-choice right-back under Ole Gunnar Solskjær, it seemed Dalot’s future at United was uncertain.

However, since Ten Hag’s arrival in 2022, Dalot has transformed into a first-team regular and one of the Dutch manager’s key players, becoming integral to United’s defensive system.

The 25-year-old’s importance to the team led to the sale of right-back Aaron Wan-Bissaka to West Ham for a fee of around £15 million, with Noussair Mazraoui coming in as a replacement.

Competition for places, such as Dalot and Wan-Bissaka’s, is something that the Portuguese international has admitted has helped further himself as a player and a person and is an experience that he is thankful for.

“If you want to be at the highest level of football, you have to be prepared for that,” Dalot explained to club media when asked about fighting for his place at the club.

“I’ve been fortunate enough to have been through every stage at this club: playing, being injured, not being selected by the manager, playing every game… So I’ve been in every stage possible that a football player can be in this period of time, which brings me these experiences and helps me to know sometimes how some of my team-mates are feeling when things are not going so well.

“So I think that’s an advantage for a football player: to go through all these processes. I’ve been through them and fought for them and tried to overcome them, and I think I’ve been doing that and I still have to keep doing it.

“Because the expectations will get higher, the demands will always get higher, especially at this club. So I’ve been trying to do that.”

Dalot and Wan-Bissaka will meet for the first time since the 2024 summer transfer window on Sunday afternoon, when Ten Hag and his men travel to face West Ham in London.

However, before this, they will fly to Istanbul to face Fenerbahce in the third game of the new-look Europa League competition.

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