Man Utd should sign Bournemouth star as marginal gain on symbol of post-Sir Alex inadequacy | OneFootball

Diogo Dalot drew headlines on Saturday after avoiding a red card for a studs-up challenge on Jeremy Doku in the Manchester derby. It was more attention than he’s received for anything he’s done at Manchester United for a long time. That’s meant more as a compliment than an insult.

He’s rarely bad enough to draw criticism. He’s normally fine and being fine for Manchester United has been no mean feat in what has incredibly been his seven-and-a-half years at the football club. Only Luke Shaw (11-and-a-half years) has been at Old Trafford longer; Dalot is the 23rd longest-serving Premier League player.

Signed under Jose Mourinho in 2018, he’s seen Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ralf Rangnick, Erik ten Hag, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ruben Amorim come and go; he’s currently enjoying his second helping of Michael Carrick, who – like his predecessors – will presumably find Dalot to be a consummate professional and a safe pair of boots.

There’s a lot to be said for those consistent 6/10 players, particularly when the performances of the long, long list of Dalot’s United teammates past and present have been so variable. But there is also always the possibility that the grass may be greener, quite a lot greener as an alternative view is that his 232 appearances for the club symbolises the Red Devils’ post-Sir Alex Ferguson inadequacy.

His apologists will claim he doesn’t get the credit he deserves, and that may be fair, but we’re also struggling to imagine too many Premier League managers chasing Dalot over the full-backs they currently have available to them. We doubt, for example, that Andoni Iraola would trade Dalot for Alex Jimenez.

The 20-year-old joined Bournemouth from AC Milan on loan in the summer, but is now just four starts from meeting the 18-game requirement for that loan to be turned into a permanent £16m transfer at the end of the season.

In 52 senior games for Milan and Bournemouth he’s yet to score a goal and has just three assists to his name, but as shown frequently in this clash with Brighton, he’s very adept at getting his team up the pitch with what is his outstanding speed and jinking acceleration with the ball at his feet. And while that final bit – the cross or shot – is currently lacking, his technical quality suggests those goal contributions will come in time.

It was his bursting midfield run and crucial pass which set up Eli Junior Kroupi’s equaliser to make it 4-4 against Manchester United in December, and him playing on the right wing as he did on that day at Old Trafford, suggests Iraola – who it’s fair to say knows his onions – has no doubts over the right-back’s creativity.

Nor will there be concern over his defensive faculties. Kauro Mitoma barely had sniff on the left for Brighton, though was forced to enjoy Jimenez screaming in his face after one instance of many in which the Bournemouth man got the better of him.

Anyone watching him of late will be of a view that Jimenez is a star that’s yet to make the headlines that Dalot has avoided through his mediocrity.

United managed to persuade both Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha to join them over rivals in the summer, but in this saga of Red Devils transition, for every Champions League-ready star they are able to sign there will be another – like Antoine Semenyo – who opts to move to a better, more stable football club.

As Ruben Amorim found out when he was denied the Semenyo money to spend on an alternative, United aren’t about to throw cash around willy-nilly as they once did, particularly when – as is the case with Dalot – the need for improvement isn’t all that conspicuous.

But there is room for improvement and the best means for United to make gains would be for them to target unheralded players with high ceilings who may only marginally improve the first team when they arrive, but have the potential to make a huge difference in the not-too-distant future. Alex Jimenez is one of those players.