Manchester United’s injured Portuguese defender Diogo Dalot has sought treatment in Shanghai © AFP / Oli SCARFF
SHANGHAI, China, Sep 9 – Injured Manchester United defender Diogo Dalot has been having treatment at Chinese club Shanghai SIPG under a Brazilian physio known as the “Miracle Doctor”.
The 20-year-old Portuguese right-back is yet to feature this season and manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer said last month that he was out until after the current international break.
What Solskjaer did not say is that Dalot, a $25 million capture in June 2018 from Porto, was suffering with a hip problem and had gone to see Shanghai’s physio Eduardo Santos.
Dalot landed in Shanghai on August 29 and spent 10 days with the Chinese champions, the club said, publishing a photo of the defender at their training ground.
Dalot, who could be moved to a more advanced role on United’s right after the signing of Aaron Wan-Bissaka, may now be in contention for a Premier League start this month.
Then-United manager Jose Mourinho called Dalot the best young full-back in Europe after signing him last summer.
Santos was dubbed “Miracle Doctor” by French media in 2015 after getting defender David Luiz — then at Paris Saint-Germain — fit in just a few days after a serious hamstring tear.
Luiz had contacted his fellow Brazilian, then employed by Zenit St. Petersburg, and flew off to Russia for treatment.
French international Eliaquim Mangala, former Tottenham midfielder Mousa Dembele and Colombian striker Radamel Falcao have all sought Santos’s help in recent years.
There have been murmurs from experts querying how he can get players back into action so quickly, but Santos told AFP in an interview last year: “What we do is not a miracle.
“I do science, and of course the results that I have are really, really good.”
