Should Manchester United sell Diogo Dalot to Milan?

Stefan Bienkowski

• Updated: 19 May 2021 17:09 BST
• 2 min read

Manchester United defender Diogo Dalot may have played his last game for the Old Trafford side. 

According to a report in the Sun, the Portuguese defender is doing so well in his loan spell at Milan that the Serie A side would now like to sign him on a permanent deal. 

Signed by Man United in 2018 for a reported fee of £19 million, Dalot still has two years left on his contract with the Premier League giants as well as a reported option for the club to extend it by a further year. 

Despite their determination to sign the versatile full-back, the Sun report that Milan would only be able to offer £15 million plus add ons for the 21-year-old talent. 

So would Man Utd benefit from cashing in on a player deemed surplus to requirement last summer or does Dalot still have a role to play at Old Trafford in the future? 

Dalot is worth more than £15 million

Perhaps the most obvious reason for Man Utd to reject this proposed offer from Milan is because it doesn’t make any financial sense. 

When the English giants bought Dalot in 2018 they would have undoubtedly had high hopes that the defender would either become a regular starter for the first team or be sold at a handsome profit after proving he was up to the task of being a Man Utd player. 

At just 21 years of age, there’s still plenty of time for Dalot to prove he can be a reliable defender for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side and as such there shouldn’t be any real incentive to selling the defender to Milan unless the Italian club can promise a sizeable chunk of any potential sell-on fees or a buy-back clause that allows Man Utd to resign him for an equally diminished price if he does continue to develop in Northern Italy. 

Man Utd could use more full-backs 

While Solskjaer’s team are by no means struggling in talent or depth as they wrestle their rivals at the top of the Premier League table, the Old Trafford side could undoubtedly use some more reinforcements in either full-back position. 

On the right Solskjaer has had to rely on Aaron Wan-Bissaka for much of the season. Which, for the most part, has been absolutely fine but speculation over the club signing another right-back to challenge the 23-year-old has been rife throughout the season. Perhaps Dalot could return to the club and offer the necessary competition? 

Similarly, the Portuguese defender has been just as useful for Milan at left-back, where United currently rely on Luke Shaw and Alex Telles. While that has worked for the most part this season, there’s no doubt that both Shaw and Telles are limited full-backs and aren’t getting any younger. Again, this is a position that Dalot could undoubtedly offer to help bolster next season.