Manchester United right-back Diogo Dalot believes his career has been on an upward trajectory over the last 12 months after becoming a more regular fixture at Old Trafford.
Following Ralf Rangnick's appointment as interim manager back in November, the Portuguese defender has racked up 14 appearances in all competitions, regularly competing with Aaron Wan-Bissaka for the right-back berth. By comparison, he had featured just seven times under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and once under Michael Carrick prior to Rangnick's arrival earlier this season.
Celebrating his 23rd birthday today [Friday], Dalot has been rewarded for his recent showings by being named in the Portugal squad for their upcoming World Cup play-off with Turkey next week. Should they win that game, Portugal will be just one game away from the World Cup in Qatar later this year.
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Having been named within the squad for a game of such significance for his country, Dalot will be looking to play his part and help Portugal move to within 90 minutes of Qatar. If successful, it would cap off what has been an encouraging past year or so for the former AC Milan loanee.
"I always try to step up a little bit each game, but I'd like to say in general I've been playing good, in my opinion," Dalot told United's club website. "I'm growing in every aspect of my game and I'm trying to get that consistency that will give me more time on the pitch.
"Obviously getting more minutes from this club, that's what I wanted since I came here. I want to combine that with good results in the team and help the team get a result as well."
With opportunities proving hard to come by at Old Trafford, the former Porto man joined Milan on loan in October 2020 on loan for the duration of the 2020/21 campaign. For the right-back, it was his temporary switch to Italy that sparked his upturn in fortunes.
The Portugal international added: "It was very good for me to see another perspective: not just the one I had in Portugal or here, but another country's perspective. It brought me a lot of stuff that I'm now using and hopefully I can combine everything and be a better – not just player, but a man as well.
"It's always a new perspective, a new challenge as well, new opportunity. That's the point of a loan, because you're not getting the game time you want here.
"You want to have that and show that you can have a good run of games and perform at a high level and that’s what I showed last season when I was in Italy. Obviously with the help of the club, with the help of the players I had there, it was fantastic.
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"I felt I got the job done and then I came back here and felt more confident, more prepared as well, because I had the high-quality games on my legs, on my mind. Obviously I was ready to start the season and so I'm here now."
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