This is Diogo Dalot's moment: 'Powerful' Portuguese already thriving as wing-back under Ruben Amorim and on the path to proving Cristiano Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho right

Dalot’s aptitude for playing wing-back should be no surprise as he spent a whole season playing there for Porto’s B team. And according to former youth coach Antonio Fohla, Dalot is perfectly equipped for operating effectively in that position. "Now he has the right qualities and abilities to play inside and outside and the inherent physical abilities to play the whole wing perfectly," Folha tells GOAL.

"He interpreted very well what the game type asked of him, either more out wide or more inside depending on the player playing in front of him. For example, if it was Galeno (the Brazilian forward still at Porto), he would play more inside and Galeno would guarantee width, and if it was Fede Varela (the Argentine forward), he'd play more on the outside near the line."

Folha, who worked with Dalot at Porto between 2015 and 2018, first in the under-19 team and then with the B team, played the defender all over the pitch, giving him the tools to become the all-action player he is today. He adds: "In the under-19s, he always played as a centre-back. Playing as a back four, on one occasion or another he played as a winger in a game where it was necessary to defend the wing better because he was from a younger generation and there was another full-back in his position. Then in the B team, in a 3-4-3 formation, he played on the wing, either on the right or the left."

The words "very powerful" immediately came to mind when Amorim was asked about Dalot after the Bodo/Glimt game, and Folha was also highly impressed with his physical attributes when he was working with him. "He always had a great physical advantage over the rest of his team-mates," he said. "Then offensively, he had a lot of explosiveness and an ability to reach the final third of the pitch and create a lot of danger."

Dalot’s mental fortitude also stood out to Folha. He added: "If I were to choose just one aspect, it would be his mentality, combined with the will he showed to do the right things to achieve his goals. I can give you an example: one day, when he arrived at the training centre after a midweek game, it was late, the whole team had left because they had training the next day and he was the only one who stayed at the facilities to do recovery treatment in the pool and cryotherapy.

"That was already a strong indicator that he had a different mentality from his team-mates. It was already the right focus and attitude to reach a high level. Maybe it's no coincidence that he and Cristiano Ronaldo get on so well, certainly because they have a similar mentality for achieving excellence."

Ronaldo did indeed get on with Dalot. During Ronaldo's infamous interview with Piers Morgan, in which he railed against the lack of standards at the club he had returned to, he singled Dalot out as an exception, a star for the future. He said: "If you ask me what I see at Manchester United, I would probably mention Diogo Dalot. He is an example, he is young but very professional and I do not doubt that he will have a long career in football. He is young, intelligent, and very professional."

And when Dalot was showing his best form of last season in February, Rio Ferdinand recalled a conversation he had had with Ronaldo. "Dalot needs a special mention," Ferdinand said. "He's someone I doubted early, I spoke to Cristiano and said 'Is he really going to be good?', and he said: 'Rio he works, he works hard, he'll make himself better, he'll improve'. He's obviously seen that behind the scenes. I spoke to Darren Fletcher, I said he's really impressed me, he was saying 'listen, he's a worker, he is going to make himself the player he needs to be.'"

Dalot, who was in the Estadio Dragao as a child when Ronaldo scored his incredible goal for United against Porto in the Champions League in 2009, has always looked up to the forward. "Cristiano is the most influential person I've ever had in football," he told FourFourTwo this year. "On and off the pitch. I consider him a friend, yet it sounds surreal because he was my idol, my reference, for years. I first met him properly at Euro 2020 and any time I spend with him makes me feel richer in terms of knowledge. I can draw from his vast experience, talent and wisdom."

Ronaldo is not the only legendary Portuguese figure to have taken to Dalot. Jose Mourinho brought him to Old Trafford in 2018 for £19m ($24m) when the full-back was 19 years old and had only seven senior appearances to his name with Porto. And he quickly gave his new signing a ringing endorsement, calling him "the best full-back in Europe in his age group".

The two Portuguese ex-pats did not have a long working relationship, though, as Mourinho was sacked four months into the season. It is fair to say that Dalot did not instantly fulfill the prophecy as he struggled with injuries and in his second season he had to contend with new £50m ($63m) signing Aaron Wan-Bissaka. He went out on loan to AC Milan in 2020 to get more first-team experience but little by little he has realised the potential Mourinho saw.

Dalot grew into a key figure under Erik ten Hag, usurping Wan-Bissaka in the starting line-up and signing a bumper five-year contract in 2023. Last season was his best for United, getting a career-best eight goal contributions as well as being named the club’s player of the year by his fellow team-mates.

Folha says: "I understand why Mourinho said that. He arrived very early, very young, managed to pass through the stages of his development very quickly, always in a precocious way, and that led him to reach the Porto first team early, to arrive at Manchester United early, to perform well in Italy at a young age in a league that is always difficult. He really does have a great mentality and mental, physical and technical qualities that make him one of the best in the world in that position. I think he's been showing that for a while, since his time at Milan, at Manchester, he's someone who has shown a lot of regularity in his performances at Manchester, even though the club has been going through an unstable phase."

As Folha alluded to, Dalot was far from satisfied that his best individual year was one of the club’s worst, posting their lowest league finish since 1990 and crashing out of the Champions League group stage, before salvaging the season by winning the FA Cup. During last season Dalot told GOAL: "Probably it's my best time individually, but it doesn't fulfil that spot on my goals because collectively I want to be good and I want the team to be successful. So when we combine that, I think I'll be even happier."

United have hired Amorim to make the team successful and when the Portuguese was appointed, Dalot was one of the first United players to express his excitement. "He's obviously a fantastic coach, young mentality but he knows what he wants. Very demanding, that's what I can expect and I think that's a perfect match for a club like this. The standards are really high."

And Folha is convinced that Amorim can get the best out of Dalot. He says: "Ruben is an excellent coach and can get the best out of his players, and in this project I have no doubt that he will. Ruben likes strong-minded, intelligent players with versatility in their play, who can be utilised inside, outside, higher up or lower down the pitch and Diogo’s versatility could undoubtedly be an asset to the team.

"At Sporting he used different types of player in that position, whether as a winger, a centre-back, a wing-back... Matheus Reis, Nuno Santos, Catamo, Quenda... he's versatile in terms of the type of player who can play there and so I think Diogo has the right characteristics for him to use him in that position.

"If the team's performance goes up, his performance will certainly go up as well. Being more open, having more freedom, in a three or five system, he doesn't have to think so much about the team's balances and defensive recoveries and this can consequently put him in the final third of the pitch more often and therefore closer to having higher numbers of goals and assists."

Amorim’s face lit up when asked about Dalot after getting his first win as United boss over Bodo/Glimt, making it clear he will be a huge part of his project. "He’s very powerful," raved the United boss. "We have to rotate him sometimes because although he always looks fresh, it’s not like that, he’s not a machine.

"He’s a very good player. He’s better on the right and we will play him there more [but] nowadays a player who can play on both sides is perfect because you can put him in different positions. I expect the same as you saw last season. A great player who can help the team. He's really a team player, you can feel it in the way he lives the game, so he’s very important for us."

It is still very early days for Amorim and he has warned that there will be a period of "suffering" before the team fully acclimatise to his methods. But it is already clear that he is a man with a plan. And Dalot is central to it.