Diego Dalot has revealed he is currently in talks to extend his contract at Manchester United for the long term.
The 23-year-old has entered the last 18 months of his deal with the Red Devils and is extremely keen to stay at Old Trafford for many seasons to come.
Though he joined United from Porto in 2018, Dalot has only become a regular starter this season, with Erik ten Hag preferring him to Aaron Wan-Bissaka at right-back.
Before then, Jose Mourinho and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer rarely used the Portugal international, who was even sent on loan to AC Milan for the 2020/21 season.
But that loan worked wonders for Dalot’s development and he has turned into a reliable defender for Ten Hag, starting 21 of United’s 26 games so far this campaign.
Dalot’s contract was up at the end of this season but United recently triggered a one-year extension and the player has confirmed that he hopes to sign a new deal in the near-future.
‘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,’ he told the Daily Mail.
Erik ten Hag has been impressed with Dalot this season (Photo by Matthew Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)
‘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.’
Dalot has helped United to fourth in the table, where they are surprisingly just four points off local rivals Manchester City, and will be hoping to start Tuesday night’s Carabao Cup quarter-final against Charlton.
And the young star claims his team are taking the competition very seriously as it represents the first chance for Ten Hag to end United’s trophy drought that stretches back to 2017.
‘I think it has to be an obsession for us to win trophies, to win things,’ he added.
‘This club is about winning trophies. It is about competing and fighting in every trophy that we are in. Hopefully we can be celebrating in a month or so.
‘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.’
