Ruben Amorim reveals Man Utd star risks missing rest of season | OneFootball

Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim revealed this week that the durable defender Diogo Dalot could potentially miss the remainder of the campaign with a calf injury.

Dalot has been almost ever-present for United this season, featuring in 51 of the club's 52 matches across all competitions. Capable of lining up in a number of roles dotted along the backline, the Portuguese international has been one of the few standout performers in a miserable season.

After a sequence of 19 consecutive starts - an unbroken run of almost 30 hours on the pitch for United - Dalot was handed a merciful spot on the bench for last weekend's clash against Wolverhampton Wanderers. Amorim couldn't resist the urge to bring his compatriot on for the final half-hour and now won't be able to call upon Dalot for multiple matches.

"Diogo Dalot is out," Amorim sighed when addressing the media before Sunday's Premier League clash against Bournemouth. "We don't know how long he will be out, but he's out for these next games."

Diogo Dalot hasn't missed consecutive matches for Man Utd since May 2023 / Nigel French/Allstar/GettyImages

United travel to Bilbao to face Athletic Club in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final next Thursday, before hosting the La Liga outfit at Old Trafford one week later. Amorim effectively confirmed that Dalot would miss the opening tie in Spain and couldn't provide any assurances that he would feature again this campaign.

"There is that possibility [Dalot's season is over], but I don't know," Amorim admitted. "We will check week by week because he works really hard, he can recover quite well.

"He has something in his calf muscle. He had a sequence of games where he played all the time. We tried to manage, but some of the players have to play a lot of minutes and we have to protect the ones we think are not so ready to cope with that, but Dalot felt something."

Amorim also revealed that Amad Diallo is "near" a return to action, confirming widespread reports that the club's star forward has enjoyed a rapid recovery from what many billed to be a season-ending injury. Matthijs de Ligt is also nearing the conclusion of his rehabilitation while fellow centre-back Ayden Heaven "is not ready" just yet.