It’s been an extremely newsworthy 24 hours at Manchester United, as the club confirmed their second summer transfer window addition in as many days today. Old Trafford heralded the arrival of FC Porto defender Diogo Dalot, who comes over for a transfer fee which is reported to be in the neighborhood of $25.5 million.
With the arrival of Dalot, United manager Jose Mourinho has a fellow Portugese on the team, and a player from one of the many clubs that he used to manage. Dalot is summer signing number two, as Brazil and Shakhtar Donetsk midfielder Fred, whose agreement was announced yesterday, was the first.
? A big #MUFC welcome to @DalotDiogo!#BemvindoDalot ?? pic.twitter.com/kYPAfmdapk
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) June 6, 2018
“Diogo is an extremely talented young defender with all the qualities to quickly become a great player for this club. He has all the attributes that a full-back needs: physicality, tactical intelligence and technical quality, combined with a Porto Academy mentality which prepares players for the maturity they need at the professional level,” reads the statement attributed to Mourinho.
“In his age group, he is the best full-back in Europe and we all believe he has a bright future ahead of him at Manchester United.”
The 19-year-old who plays for Portugal’s U21 team was inked to a five year deal, with an option to extend for a sixth. Dalot made only eight senior team appearances for Porto this past season, but it’s clear that club scouts apparently liked what they saw when they took in Porto’s goalless draw versus Liverpool in UEFA Champions League competition at Anfield.
Diogo Dalot and his Porto teammates did a good job stifling the vaunted, record setting Liverpool attacking unit, and that helped the youngster achieve a huge step forward in his career, and with it a massive rise in pay grade.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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