Dalot: Pre-season has been amazing so far

Defender Diogo Dalot has been blown away by the size of United's worldwide following on the Australian leg of Tour 2019.

The Portuguese youngster joined United last summer, but was unable to take part in 2018's pre-season fixtures after picking up a knee injury while playing for previous employers Porto.

However, this time around, Dalot is undoubtedly benefitting from a summer of training with the squad in Australia. “It has been amazing for me,” Diogo said during Thursday’s session, which was open to the public.

“I missed one good pre-season [and am enjoying] one fit pre-season. It has been very good to get up from my level and, for me, it has been amazing.”

Since landing in Australia on Monday, manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been putting his players through their paces in training at the WACA ground in Perth, but Dalot believes the intensity of the sessions will benefit the Reds during the upcoming Premier League campaign.

“Yeah, of course [it has been hard work],” he said. “That is why pre-season is hard, because this is the time when we need to push hard and work hard, because it is going to be the first step of the season. Double sessions [or] only one session, we need to go hard in every session.”

After a week of training, Dalot and his United team-mates are looking forward to our first game of Tour 2019, when we take on Perth Glory at the Optus Stadium on Saturday. This weekend’s match – which, like all our pre-season matches, will be shown live on MUTV – offers the Reds a chance to work on our tactical approach ahead of the new season, according to Dalot.

“I think the games are very important,” he said. “You come from two to three weeks without doing anything, just resting, so it is good to get the team together again and get the new players in as well, just try to get better outside of the pitch and inside of the pitch as well.”

Saturday’s encounter grants fans Down Under a rare chance to see their side up close and personal. Our first-team players had a taster of the level of support for us in Australia during Thursday’s open training session, when around 10,000 fanatical United fans showed up to see Ole’s side in action.

“Yeah it's always different,” Dalot admitted after the session. “It feels like a day when we go to a game, to be with the fans. I think it is good for everybody. It is good for us to be close to the fans and good for the fans as well, to see us training and be with us. They can't see us every day with us playing in England and I think it was very good for them.

“When we travel anywhere in the globe there are thousands of fans of this club,” he added. “It is a great experience for me to come to the other part of the world, to see that this club means so much to them. For me it is a joy to be part of this club.”