FC Porto winger Yacine Brahimi has conceded that Manchester United new boy Diogo Dalot could have been a major player for the Portuguese giants in the near future if he had stayed at the club.

The Portuguese giants have again lost players in the ongoing summer transfer window, with Ricardo Pereira joining Leicester City and Ivan Marcano moving to Serie A giants Roma.




While those departures were expected, Porto were not considering selling 19-year-old Dalot, who broke into the first team earlier this year and made just eight senior appearances for the club.

However, Manchester United came in and snared him away from Porto for a fee of €22m, a figure more than the release clause he had in his contract with the Portuguese giants.
 


Dalot has signed a five-year contract with an option of another year with the Premier League giants and Jose Mourinho has stated that he is the best full-back in Europe in his age group.  

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Reflecting on the departures, Brahimi admits that the club have lost important players and admits Dalot could have been the future of Porto had he stayed at the club.

“They are important players”, the 28-year-old winger was quoted as saying by Mais Futebol when asked about the major departures from the club this summer.

“Ricardo and Marcano played almost all the games.

“Dalot was the future of the club, but football is like that.”

Dalot is expected to be the understudy to Antonio Valencia for the right-back role, with Manchester United hoping that he will eventually replacing the veteran Ecuadorian in the near future.