Jose Mourinho eyes up reunion at AS Roma with Manchester United defender

Diogo Dalot spent last season on loan at AC Milan but has racked up 22 appearances this season, with Ralf Rangnick regularly picking the Portugal international over Aaron Wan-Bissaka at right-back since becoming interim-manager.

The 22-year-old didn’t feature in Sunday’s Manchester derby, though, and many pundits will suggest that Rangnick expected Raheem Sterling to start for Manchester City but that wasn’t the case. Wan-Bissaka got the nod and had a terrible game in what was a chance to impress a manager who hasn’t been picking him.

However, Dalot is now being linked with a move away from the club in a rather drastic turn of events.

Italian publication Calciomercato claim the young defender is wanted at AS Roma by former manager Jose Mourinho, who brought him to Old Trafford back in 2018. Their update reads: “A very positive season at Milan before returning to Manchester United. Diogo Dalot has forged a special bond with Italy and may return soon: Jose Mourinho’s Roma really like the Portuguese winger.”

At the time, Mourinho made his feelings known about Dalot and compared his potential to club legend Gary Neville.

“Everybody knows that he has fantastic potential,” Mourinho told ManUtd.com.

“I don’t want to compare, especially not the number of titles but he is probably the same age as Gary Neville when he came into the first team. Probably he can follow Neville in this dynamic of more than 10 years as United’s right-back, with amazing conditions to improve, because as I was saying he’s 19 years old.”

Mourinho is known to sign players he previously worked with, as we seen at United when he signed Nemanja Matic from Chelsea, but does he really think Dalot has become the player he would’ve expected at 22?

Moreover, there is nothing to suggest United are thinking about putting Dalot in the market, only the fact he hasn’t exactly nailed down a place in the team. I’d argue United are weak are right-back whether Dalot or Wan-Bissaka start games…

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