Manchester United right-back Diogo Dalot gets a lot of praise from the Portuguese press today, and for a very good reason.
Soon after completing his €22m move from Porto to Old Trafford the last summer, he helped the football school where he played as a kid.
The story is told by Luís Travessa, coordinator of Escola de Futebol O Fintas, in an interview with A Bola.
“We received an invitation to dine at his parents’ house, a fantastic family that greatly contributed to his success,” Travessa told A Bola. “We thought we were going to get a signed Manchester United shirt and, indeed, it was there waiting for us, which left us radiant. But there was more…
“We talked to Diogo via Skype. He was on the bus going to a game. He told us to go outside. We had a van for the club on the doorstep! It was a shock! We were not expecting it. He prepared everything in secret: he reserved a budget from the first salary in England for that surprise. It’s very gratifying.”
“This gave us chills. We had a van, but it was old. This comes to meet the requirements of the new legislation for the transport of children up to 14 years old: the windows open up only half, the back door only opens by the driver’s action, it requires license for transport of children…”
“Coming from him, it doesn’t surprise us. He has always shown great principles of solidarity, showing a sense of help and concern for others. He got us used to acts of generosity, but of this size and after he barely arrived in Manchester…”
As Dalot was just a kid when he left the football school to join Porto, they didn’t get any training compensation from the Manchester United transfer, so that’s the way the player moved to help his old club when he got his first big salary.
Still, Luís Travessa now asks Porto to help them with a part of that money, since the Dragons currently have ‘over ten players’ coming from their small club.
