The past few days haven’t been great for Diogo Dalot, with parts of the Italian media insisting he put in a terrible performance as AC Milan lost 2-0 to Spezia at the weekend.
WhoScored rated the Manchester United owned player’s performance as 6.8/10, with no Milan player getting higher, yet he’s been singled out partly due to disappointing previously during his loan spell.
Much of the Rossoneri squad has credit in the bank given their good performances this season, and Dalot isn’t among that fortunate group. He’s been used as a rotation player and whilst the loan switch hasn’t been a disaster it’s not been a runaway success either.
After sections of the Italian media gave the fullback a kicking on Sunday, Tuttosport continue the efforts in their Monday edition.
It’s stated Dalot is in ‘free fall’, which sounds a bit over the top. More fair is the newspaper declaring there’s ‘more doubt than certainty’ around him. He’s been disappointing when defending, and disappointing when attacking, according to the report, which is never really a good combination.
As it stands, Tuttosport believe Milan could walk away from the idea of trying to sign Dalot permanently from Manchester United. They have ‘no intention’ of spending the €20m which was mentioned last summer, especially given the current difficulties in football finances.
Therefore, Milan are looking around for other, likely cheaper, options.
The 21-year-old hasn’t been a big hit in Italy, yet the reaction in the past few days has appeared well over the top from certain quarters.
Yesterday we covered claims from Italy which described his performance against Spezia as ‘disastrous’, ‘horrible’, ‘the worst’, but Gazzetta and Corriere dello Sport didn’t think he was standout bad, and the WhoScored rating also flies in the face of the narrative.
There’s a possibility Milan and media friendly to the Serie A club are testing the water for a cut-price deal, or lashing out after claims Sevilla could rival them for Dalot in the summer.
Manchester United will want to keep an eye on the situation, with the danger of the almost forced negativity impacting Dalot’s confidence and market value.
