Many of Manchester United’s Euro 2024 stars are missing the pre-season tour of the USA.
Manchester United announced the pre-season tour squad of the USA, and have had to leave behind many top stars.
All the players who made the Euro 2024 or Copa America quarter-finals or later rounds, have missed the cut-off for the tour.
All of those players are ordered by FIFA to complete a mandatory rest period. This is why new signing Joshua Zirkzee is not on the pre-season tour.
Diogo Dalot’s pre-season
Diogo Dalot is taking matters into his own hands. The Portugal defender is starting his own pre-season.
Dalot, who reached the Euro 2024 quarter-finals, is taking part in his own training camp in his homeland.
The defender shared images to his Instagram page and as you can see, he looks in top shape.
Diogo Dalot has taken inspiration from Cristiano Ronaldo
When Cristiano Ronaldo was at Manchester United in his second spell, he was rarely seen without Diogo Dalot by his side.
The pair struck up a friendship which was on show at Euro 2024, when Dalot consoled a tearful Ronaldo after an extra-time penalty miss, with United fans praising his support.
There is an admiration among their friendship, with Dalot using Ronaldo’s professionalism for his own approach behind the scenes.
Dalot said that Ronaldo had a transformative impact on his career, telling United’s official website: “I had the life experience to work with someone [Ronaldo] who was completely obsessed about it.
“By being with him so much of the time, that passed on to me. Now it’s just something that’s just part of me.
“I think I created this routine where I have to take some time every single day to recover, to work on my mental part as well, my physical part. It’s all a routine now.
“It’s just trying to work on recovery, nutrition, all kinds of stuff that will make my body feel ready to play.”
Dalot looks in great shape as he begins his own pre-season, ensuring he is ready for action when he is able to return to help the team.
United will need him, struggling already without a full group of first team full-backs. It’s a familiar story, and Dalot needs to be as dependable as he was last seaosn.