Manchester United defender Diogo Dalot has claimed that he is now a better player thanks to the loan spell he had with AC Milan in 2020-21.
Dalot joined the Rossoneri on a season-long dry loan as the then-manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer wanted the Portuguese full-back to go out and get more consistent playing time in order to help him develop.
He played both as a right-back and a left-back in his time with the club and although he struggled to carve out much space at first, by the end of the season he was considered a dependable and reliable player, so much so that there was talk of him coming back.
MilanNews managed to speak to Dalot at the end of the match at Old Trafford that the Red Devils won against Arsenal by a score of 3-1, and he provided a reflection on his time at the club.
The 33 games at Milan allowed you to become Manchester United’s starting right-back in the Premier League. What did you improve in during your Italian experience?
“I spent a fantastic year in Italy. With Pioli I have grown a lot, especially from the point of view of mentality. If I am a better defender I owe it to him. Italian football is different from the Premier League and I had to adapt in just one year and playing in Serie A has helped me a lot. The playing time in the last two years here in Manchester has grown and consequently so has my self-esteem.”
With Davide Calabria you had to fight for a starting shirt, which is not simple…
“In a club like AC Milan there must be competition because the biggest teams always have two players for each position. I learned a lot from Davide and this was proof of the quality of the Milan squad. I was delighted that they won the title last year because the Rossoneri are a fantastic team. ”
Can you tell us about Zlatan?
“Great player with a great winning mentality. And thanks to him I learned a lot.”
Is it true that you would have liked to have stayed in the summer of 2021?
“Milan are a great club and I loved my season with the Rossoneri. But it wasn’t just up to me… in the end I decided to stay at United and it was the right decision.”
I would choose him over Calabria or Dest any game. Milan could have gotten him for a good price back then. Better than Dest’s deal.
I repectfully disagree
Milan wanted to bring Dalot back but ManUtd was asking for 20 mil.
Milan didn’t have the money to spend 20 mil on someone who would be coming in to be a back up initially, plus we already had Kalulu , who was a RB at the time.
I’ve been looking at Man Utd games because my bro is a fan and I watch with him. And I can tell how much he has improved and even he said it was due to him coming to Milan
I liked him and his attitude but back then 20 M was just too much for us.
Nice that we helped him, but I could not stand watching him play, he was awful for us (in my view though. Any mistake your team makes when you get up at 2:30 in the morning to watch is painful.)