MAN UNITED CONFIDENTIAL: Triple injury boost, Harry Maguire handed new court date and Diogo Dalot opens up about how he has been affected by Diogo Jota’s death

Diogo Dalot has spoken of his pain over the death of his friend and Portugal team-mate Diogo Jota.

The Liverpool forward died alongside his brother Andre Silva in a crash in northern Spain a month ago on his way back to Merseyside for pre-season training.

Dalot and Jota played together for Portugal many times and had won the Nations League just weeks earlier, beating Spain in the final in Germany.

The United defender joined captain Bruno Fernandes and head coach Ruben Amorim in laying a wreath at a memorial for Jota at Anfield in the days after the tragedy.

Dalot paid tribute to the 28-year-old and said that seeing Jota’s name on shirts on tour with United in Chicago shows that he will never be forgotten by everyone in football.

‘It’s tough to talk about it,’ said Dalot after United’s win over Bournemouth at Soldier Field. ‘It was tough for me and for every team-mate that played with him. I cannot imagine what the family went through. I had the opportunity to see them, and I don’t think there are any words to describe it when such a tragedy happens like that.

‘It hits you. I felt that everybody, the whole world felt it, even if they didn’t know him personally. It’s just a tragedy. I think every time I go on the pitch, I try to … even today I saw shirts with his name and I think he will be remembered forever.

‘I think he deserves it because he was a great man, a great team-mate; someone that I would say was a role model for me because I always like to see a player’s behaviour when you play and when you don’t play. He was always the guy that was thinking and putting the team first.

‘So I will always remember him like that and hopefully he’s at peace now and resting where he is.

‘He could have played for any team. When you’re talking about the personal side, I don’t look to the shirts that he represents. Obviously, I played a lot of years with him in the national team, and I spent some time with him in there. You create a connection, you create some memories, and I think that’s what I want to keep, the good memories. I think it’s how I want to remember it.’

Triple injury boost for Ruben

Good news on the injury front for Ruben Amorim with Lisandro Martinez, Joshua Zirkzee and Andre Onana all back in light training at United’s base in Chicago.

Martinez hasn’t played since rupturing an anterior cruciate ligament in his knee against Crystal Palace at Old Trafford in early February. The Argentina defender came on tour to continue his rehab and because Amorim thought it would be good to have him around the camp.

Confidential understands that Martinez is stepping up his recovery at the Endeavor Health Performance Center. He has done some running on the grass and some ball work on his own, but isn’t ready to rejoin the main group yet.

Zirkzee is also back on the grass as he recovers from a minor injury after battling his way back from a hamstring strain to be fit for the Europa League final defeat to Tottenham in Bilbao in May.

Explaining the latest issue on tour, Zirkzee said: ‘I’ve got a small injury but it shouldn’t take too long to recover now. I’ve got great physios working with me every day.

‘It’s not a serious problem. It’s pre-season so unlike last season where I wanted to push myself to be back for the final, obviously now I just want to be there for the start of the season.’

Onana is working his way back to fitness after suffering a tear in his left hamstring on the second day of pre-season at Carrington. Like Martinez, it was decided that he would come on tour even though there was little chance of him playing.

The United goalkeeper has been throwing himself around in training, but he is under instructions from the medical staff to make sure all his training is non-contact. Onana won’t play on tour but has an outside chance of returning for United’s final pre-season friendly against Fiorentina at Old Trafford next week, and should be available for the Premier League opener at home to Arsenal.

There is still a question mark over the Cameroonian’s future at Old Trafford after United quoted Monaco £30m to buy him and then had an offer to take Emi Martinez on loan rejected by Aston Villa, but as it stands Onana is set to continue as No.1.

United stars go feet first

Rasmus Hojlund and Luke Shaw managed to avoid joining the casualty list despite playing barefoot in a kids’ game at the Chicago Fire’s community facility on Tuesday.

The United team-mates were on opposing teams and seemed to enjoy the friendly rivalry on what was a suffocatingly hot day at the Fire Pitch.

What was the final score? ‘It was 12-10 or something,’ said Shaw who kept his feet out of harm’s way during the 15-minute game. ‘They’re alright, my problems are gone now,’ added Shaw before sitting down with reporters to give a typically honest opinion on his injury issues over the last 18 months and what Ruben Amorim has done to improve the ‘toxic’ atmosphere around United.

Maguire’s new court date

It’s been five years since Harry Maguire was arrested following an incident during a family holiday on the Greek island of Mykonos, but the United defender will finally get the chance to clear his name after a new date was set for his retrial.

Maguire was found guilty of assaulting police officers and attempted bribery following an alleged brawl and handed a 21-month suspended sentence, but he strenuously denies the allegations and the verdict was automatically quashed on appeal.

The new trial was first delayed in May 2023 because Maguire’s defence counsel was unavailable, and again in February 2024 due to a Greek lawyers’ strike. After it was rescheduled for March 25 of this year without success, a court official in Syros even suggested that it might not take place at all because the statute of limitations takes effect in August 2028.

However, Confidential has learned that the new date is October 8 of this year when Maguire will hopefully have his day in court. He is set to be on England duty against Wales a day later, but it’s understood that he won’t have to appear in court in person.

Maguire came on tour to the US a day later than his team-mates due to a personal issue but has played in both games so far, coming on as a second-half substitute for Matthijs de Ligt in the 2-1 win against West Ham in New Jersey and then making way for the Holland defender at half-time in the 4-1 win over Bournemouth in Chicago as a precaution.

‘He had an issue during training in the holidays,’ explained United boss Ruben Amorim. ‘He’s a little bit late, so we have to be careful with him. It’s just a little bit of fatigue with the training. We are trying to control everything and saving all the players to give the exact minutes that they need.’

Texas Old’ham

Amorim and his players won’t get as far west as Texas on the club’s current tour of the US, but a team has been representing the club in Houston this week.

The Manchester United Foundation are playing from Tuesday until Friday in the Genuine Cup, an inclusive football tournament for players aged 18 and above who are living with intellectual and developmental disabilities.

There are 38 teams taking part from 22 countries around the world, and United have picked a mix of 12 young male and female people from the Greater Manchester area who are living with various disabilities, and all of whom attend at least one of the foundation’s disability and inclusion projects.

The foundation operates across all 10 boroughs including Manchester, Stockport, Tameside, Oldham, Rochdale, Bury, Bolton, Wigan, Salford, and Trafford.