Manchester United's Diogo Dalot will start against Aston Villa in the League Cup on Thursday night and that is the last game he will play before the winter break for the World Cup commences.
Dalot playing in the European Championship for Portugal last summer was fortuitous. He was originally excluded from Fernando Santos' squad, but Manchester City's Joao Cancelo was forced to withdraw after testing positive for COVID and that opened the door for an unassuming Dalot, who featured from the bench against France and started against Belgium.
A few months after the tournament, Dalot was named in Portugal's squad for October's World Cup qualifiers and there was nothing fortuitous about that. Dalot had earned the right to play for his country and he admitted it felt 'unbelievable'.
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Dalot is enjoying the best season of his career and his development has been accelerated by the appointment of Erik ten Hag, who has improved the right-back with tactical input at Carrington. Dalot has started in every game for United this season and he's made tremendous strides of progress, now looking more accomplished, dependable and comfortable at right-back.
He's quickly become a symbol of Ten Hag's reign, highlighting the Dutchman's ability to improve players, which is a hallmark of any world-class manager. There have always been doubts about Dalot but he's proving a point with each performance.
Dalot is undroppable and, although his performances have contributed to that status, Aaron Wan-Bissaka's decline has ensured he's unchallenged in that position, which is a problem because United need two reliable and quality right-backs.
Ten Hag recently suggested exactly that, saying: "I'm really happy with the development of Diogo [Dalot]. But I have to mention that a club like Manchester United needs two good full-backs, because we have a lot of games to cover."
Those comments were damning for Wan-Bissaka, who has played just four minutes this season. Wan-Bissaka has been sidelined with a back injury for the majority of the campaign, but it seems he wouldn't have played much more had he been available.
He was informed before last season ended that he was free to leave the club but there have been no appropriate offers.
Wan-Bissaka has undoubtedly been a failed signing. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer signed the right-back for £50million from Crystal Palace in the summer of 2019 and Ten Hag considers him surplus to requirements - due to his lack of quality in the attacking third - just three-and-a-half-years later, which is hardly an ideal return on the money United invested in him.
It's also telling that even Solskjaer, who made Wan-Bissaka his first-choice right back, had doubts about his quality, as the Norwegian wanted to sign Kieran Trippier from Atletico Madrid to replace his £50m signing in his final transfer window in charge.
Since then, Solskjaer has been sacked, Wan-Bissaka was demoted by Ralf Rangnick during his interim tenure, Dalot became the first-choice right-back and Trippier joined Newcastle in January, although if Trippier had signed at Old Trafford, United would have the two full-backs that Ten Hag wants. There is currently no competition at right-back and that is problematic.
In a campaign that is interrupted by a winter World Cup, the fixture list is demanding and injuries and suspensions will happen, which means United could be without the 'undroppable' Dalot, just like they are against Fulham this weekend.
Dalot has picked up five yellow cards in the Premier League this season and that means he's suspended for Fulham. Dalot's last game before the World Cup will come against Aston Villa on Thursday and it will be interesting to see who starts on Sunday.
Ten Hag does not rate Wan-Bissaka, who is now fully fit, and perhaps he'll go for the wildcard option, Tyrell Malacia, instead. Malacia insisted he was just a left-back to journalists on the pre-season tour but he's been used in different positions for the Netherlands.
Netherlands manager Louis van Gaal played Malacia played as a makeshift centre-back against Belgium in September and he'd surely rather start at right-back against Fulham than be on the bench, despite his insistence about playing on the left.
It seems possible that Ten Hag would prefer to play Malacia out of position at right-back than starting Wan-Bissaka and that would show what the United boss truly thinks about the latter, should the £12.9m summer signing start at Fulham.
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