Why Man Utd may not activate Dalot option
FT Desk
- 27 Sept 2022 15:57 BST
- 3 min read
Diogo Dalot has been on fire for Manchester United so far this season, wo why wouldn't they activate an option to extend his contract by one more season?
Dalot arrived at Man Utd from Porto in a €21.3 million deal in 2018, but he initially struggled to convince in Manchester and spent the 2020/21 campaign out on loan at AC Milan.
He won the league in Italy, though, and shared right-back responsibilities at Old Trafford with Aaron Wan-Bissaka last season before taking on the role full-time since Erik ten Hag succeeded Ralf Rangnick as manager.
Dalot has contributed two assists from eight games in all competitions while Wan-Bissaka has been restricted to just four minutes of football. And yet there are reports emanating that United won't take up the one-year extension option on Dalot's contract.
Barcelona's right-back shortlist, according to Gerard Romero:
🏴 Aaron Wan-Bissaka
🇵🇹 Diogo Dalot
🇳🇱 Jeremie Frimpong
🇦🇷 Juan Foyth
🇧🇪 Thomas Meunier pic.twitter.com/oOtxxYiwCH
— Football Transfers (@Transfersdotcom) August 15, 2022
So what is going on?
"There is an option to extend his contract for one more season," transfer specialist Fabrizio Romano explained on his YouTube channel.
"We've had many stories on many players having this option [at Man Utd]. We know this is the case for [Marcus] Rashford for example, but many say 'no, there is no option for Dalot.'
'Man Utd not stupid'
"This is not true. There is an option for Man Utd to activate one more year, so potentially the contract is to June 2024.
"Man Utd are not stupid, they see Dalot is doing fantastic and so they could be ready to activate the option.
"But they’ll only activate the option if they're unable to reach an agreement with Dalot over a new [long-term] contract."
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Dalot has also averaged three clearances per game this season, making him an asset on both sides of the ball, and his form is understood to have attracted interest from Barcelona head coach Xavi.
Dalot is currently ranked at €7m by Football Transfers in-house algorithm, but Barca would have to part ways with far more than that if United can tie him down to the meaningful contract they hope to.
