Mourinho hopes Neville admires potential in young Man Utd star

Jose Mourinho believes Manchester United may have found their right-back answer for the next decade after showering Diogo Dalot with wholesome praise.

The 19-year-old arrived in the summer in a £19million deal from FC Porto, but has had to wait patiently for his chance with Mourinho opting to use him sparingly in the opening months of the season.

But the teenager has now racked up four appearances, including two in the Premier League, and on Wednesday produced his best display yet in United’s 2-2 draw with Arsenal at Old Trafford.

After the game, Mourinho reserved special praise for Dalot, who showed plenty of attacking intent down the right – with the United boss hoping that even Gary Neville will have been impressed.

“The kid Diogo, fantastic,” added the United boss. “I think Gary Neville must be thinking now that Manchester United has a right-back for 10 years.”

Mourinho dropped Paul Pogba and Romelu Lukaku to the bench, with both coming on in the second half, but denied the team’s level of happiness was improved by neither being in the starting line-up.

He said: “I think Paul came on and gave a good contribution. I brought freshness and power to the attacking players but our defenders were dead. That made it more difficult to keep that happiness for the 95 minutes.

“In the last part of the game it was Arsenal wanting the draw, diving, getting the game stopped.”

Mourinho, meanwhile, highlighted three aspects of United’s performance that really pleased him against the in-form Gunners.

 

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