Diogo Dalot hopes to extend Man United stay as he reveals contract talks
Diogo Dalot has confirmed that he hopes to sign a new long-term contract at Manchester United and extend his Old Trafford career.
The Portugal defender’s current deal was due to run out in the summer until United triggered a 12-month extension before Christmas to keep him until June 2024.
Dalot revealed that talks are now underway over a new contract, saying: ‘We are in a position to say that we are negotiating and seeing how both parties will benefit, but it is no secret that I am happy to be here, so we will see how things go.
‘I love this club and I love to play for this club. Progressively we are in a good direction as a team. For me, this is the most important part and hopefully individually I can continue to help the team as I am doing.’
A £19million signing from FC Porto in 2017, Dalot’s career at United looked to be in some doubt after he spent the 2020-21 season on loan at AC Milan.
But the 23-year-old has excelled under Erik ten Hag this season and says he loves the intensity and ‘mess’ of Premier League football.
He added: ‘I agree that it is probably the best league to play if you are a player that likes excitement, if you are a player that likes intensity, if you are a player that likes mess.
‘This type of busy schedule. If you have this type of mentality I think it is the best league to play. ‘But obviously we are not all the same. There’s a lot of players that would probably prefer to play in another league.
‘But, for me individually, having played in these three countries (England, Italy and Portugal), I would say it is the league that I enjoy the most because I like this intensity of schedules.
‘The way that English people live this game, the way that everybody talks about the Premier League. It’s like the world stops at the weekends to watch it, and I think that made me love this country and obviously the Premier League.’
Ten Hag’s side host Charlton Athletic in the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup on Tuesday night, and Dalot insists United must make it an ‘obsession’ to win trophies and end a six-year drought at Old Trafford.
The biggest club in English football has not won any silverware since lifting what was then the EFL Cup and Europa League under Jose Mourinho in 2017.
United are back on track under Ten Hag, moving up to fourth in the Premier League and also progressing in the FA Cup and Europa League this season.
But Dalot insists the club need something to show for their efforts and, in that sense, the Carabao Cup can be just as important as the Champions League.
‘I think it has to be an obsession for us to win trophies, to win things,’ he said. ‘This club is about winning trophies. It is about competing and fighting in every trophy that we are in.
‘This Carabao is not smaller than a Champions League, than a Europa League. Obviously it’s different dimensions but, for us, it’s a trophy and we want to win it.
‘To go to Wembley, it’s a tough journey. We know, it’s difficult. But we want to take these small steps first. And every time we make a step, we want to do it with the certainty that we are moving in the right direction.
‘I think we are, but the reality is that we’re not there yet. We have to build many things first, and I think this competition would a very first big and firm step that we could take, especially because it is the first trophy of the season and we are close.
‘We have to have this type of mentality and face the game tomorrow like it is a Premier League game or the Europa League final or something like this. Hopefully we can be celebrating in a month or so.’
