Diogo Dalot to miss start of season as new Man Utd signing undergoes minor surgery

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has confirmed defender Diogo Dalot will miss the start of the season with a knee injury.

The 19-year-old recently joined United on a five-year deal from Portuguese champions Porto for a fee of £17.4m.

Dalot missed the end of Porto’s run to the title due to the injury but had travelled with United on their pre-season tour of the USA despite not being cleared to return to training.

And Mourinho has now confirmed Dalot will not be ready to make his United debut until September.

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“Dalot is injured; we knew that but we didn’t want to lose him because of that,” he said (via Sky Sports).

“He is recovering really well. We think he can start training with the team when we go back to England.

“He will not be ready for the start of the season but we think he’ll be ready for September.”

United will play six games during their pre-season, starting against Club America in Pheonix – the first of their five games in America.

Mourinho’s men also face San Jose Earthquakes, AC Milan, Liverpool and Real Madrid in the United States before taking on Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.

The Red Devils kick off their Premier League season against Leicester City at Old Trafford on Friday August 10, the opening game of the new campaign.

Diogo Dalot’s quick rise to the top

Having recently turned 19, Dalot was a new face in the Porto first team last season making just eight appearances for Sergio Conceicao’s men.

The full-back spent the first half of the season playing for the Porto B team, playing 20 times before his call up to the first team.

This rise also saw him make his debut in the Champions League, going up against Liverpool in the last-16, keeping a clean sheet at Anfield.

But his performances for Porto and the Portuguese youth teams were enough to see United match his release clause to bring him to England.

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