‘We have to win NOW’ - Diogo Dalot insists ‘the standard’ at Man Utd should be challenging for the Premier League title as he admits trophy-starved fans have already forgotten Carabao Cup triumph

United lifted a first major trophy in six years by winning the Carabao Cup last season. However, Dalot knows it will not sate the demands of Red Devils fans, who grew accustomed to historic success in the 1990s and 2000s, but have now been waiting 11 years for another Premier League title.

"Last season we had a good year, we finished well with the trophy, fighting for the FA Cup and being in the Champions League spots. It's not an aim for the club, but it's a step forward," Dalot said in an exclusive interview with GOAL following his signing with PUMA. "The standard will always be fighting for the Premier League, the Champions League and all the trophies that we are in. So I think we can be in the right direction to go there. The club hasn't won the Premier League in a lot of years. Eleven years. So the fans have been waiting a long time."

"This is now, we have to win now. For them it doesn't matter if we won the Carabao Cup last season, in the next one we just have to win two trophies, win the Premier League. Every year you start the Premier League with expectations that you can win it," Dalot added. "This is the type of mentality that we need in the club. It's the normal standard for the club. It's up to us as players, as a club, as staff to show it and to do it on the pitch."

United got off to a rocky start this season, slipping behind frontrunners Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal and being off the pace in the race for the top four as well as suffering an early exit from the Champions League. But the team's fortunes have turned since the start of the year, with Erik ten Hag's side winning six out of seven matches in 2024 to lift their hopes of gatecrashing the top four and returning to Europe's elite competition. "This season, hopefully we can finish with one trophy and be in the Champions League, that would be also a step forward in my opinion when we didn't start the way we wanted," Dalot added.

United can crank up the pressure on fourth-placed Aston Villa and Tottenham in fifth when they host Fulham in the Premier League on Saturday, aiming for a fifth consecutive league triumph.