'He's won the battle' - how Diogo Dalot defied Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to become a Manchester United regular

One of the more forthright observations earwiggers heard Ole Gunnar Solskjaer utter during his managerial tenure at Manchester United was that Diogo Dalot "can't defend".

Solskjaer's indiscreet analysis, uttered after the Villarreal winger Arnaut Danjuma gave Dalot a chasing at Old Trafford last season, was hardly a jolt.

The £50million signing of Aaron Wan-Bissaka in Solskjaer's first summer immediately ousted Dalot - bought the previous year by Jose Mourinho. Timothy Fosu-Mensah was resurrected like Lazarus for his first appearance in more than three years even though Dalot was available at Crystal Palace in July 2020 and two months later the Portuguese was loaned to AC Milan.

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Dalot enjoyed an amiable catch-up with Solskjaer during the interval at the San Siro when United faced Milan in the Europa League round-of-16. Dalot started the first leg at Old Trafford, an anodyne experience with the turnstiles locked in the behind-closed-doors era.

Dalot celebrated Simon Kjaer's stoppage-time equaliser against his parent club on 'away' territory. His ultimate loyalty was always to United, though.

Sources say Dalot "never gave up" on reigniting his career in Manchester, despite lacking the confidence of the manager and certain supporters. That belief was not necessarily shared widely among those closest to Dalot. So patent was Solskjaer's reservations about Dalot there was little surprise at the shock selection of Fosu-Mensah.

Two years on, few would have expected Dalot to be one of half-a-dozen certain starters under United's new permanent manager. Since his work placement in Italy, Dalot's fitness has improved markedly from his first two injury-laden years at