Four years after being signed by Jose Mourinho for £19 million from Porto, Dalot says he feels like he has finally arrived at United and the 23-year-old does not want to look back from here.
“I feel like I’m a Man United player, but obviously I need to work every single day to play,” he said. “I want to be ready for the manager, for the club, and every time he needs me I’m going to be there.
“I need to show my qualities. This is why I came here, to show this club I’m capable of playing many games. This is what I want. I think the things are going well, but we still have a lot of room for improvement.
“That [the pass for Martial] is something that I train, I think I can do it. Hopefully I can do many more this season.”
The questions about Dalot center not on his attacking capabilities or technical qualities, both of which are greatly superior to Wan-Bissaka and explain why Ten Hag has picked him over the England defender, but his defensive acumen. The new manager’s insistence on a high line and his full-backs pushing upfield does leave a lot of space in behind for opponents to exploit and balancing those attacking and defensive demands will be Dalot’s greatest challenge.
“It is demanding but at this club you want to play attacking football, you want to have fun, you want to enjoy playing in attacking positions,” he said. “Obviously it will take demands physically but I think we are going to be ready for the season and hopefully we can start well.
“We need to be proactive, not just the full-backs – everyone. Read the game, be always on our toes. Mentally we have to be connected all the time and hopefully we can improve a little bit more as well when we go to the season.”
Meanwhile, Dalot believes it is important United to keep his compatriot Cristiano Ronaldo, who missed the tour for personal reasons but also wants to leave Old Trafford.
“I think Cristiano is important for us,” he said. “What we know is he is going through some family issues, we hope everything is ok and that’s how we do.”
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