 COMPARING THE FULL BACKS: WAN-BISSAKA vs DALOT; SHAW VS TELLES

Comparing the Full Backs:

Wan-Bissaka vs Dalot; Shaw vs Telles

by Kenneth Abela

Wan‑Bissaka vs Dalot Amid tight competition for ‘full back starting roles’ at United, how do Diego Dalot and Aaron Wan-Bissaka measure up? It’s safe to say that Diego Dalot has been putting in the type of performances that should have Aaron Wan-Bissaka on the bench deeply worried.

Wan-Bissaka burst onto the scene as a future star at Crystal Palace and was soon snapped up by the Premier League giants for £50million after being named as the club’s Player of the Year for the 2018–19 season. 24 years of age, few know that although he was born in Croydon, Greater London, he is of Congolese descent and in fact made one appearance for DR Congo under-20s in 2015. He has gone on to represent the country of his birth, England, at under-20 and under-21 levels. He has made 87 appearances for United and scored 2 goals.

José Diogo Dalot Teixeira, known as Diogo Dalot, age 22 is Portuguese and a product of the Porto youth system. After making eight appearances for Porto, he joined Manchester United in June 2018 for a reported fee of €22 million. Although with Portugal he won the 2016 UEFA European Under-17 Championship and made his senior international debut at the UEFA Euro 2020, there seemed to be no place for him at United so much so that between October 2020 and June 2021, Dalot was loaned out to Italian Serie A club AC Milan. He has made 36 appearances for United. Although he has never scored for United, he did score one goal while on loan. Wan-Bissaka is a reliable right back and good defensively while Dalot is seen as a better attacking right-back. The former Porto man hardly had a sniff of football under former manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who preferred Wan Bissaka whom he had signed from Crystal Palace. However Aaron Wan Bissaka’s minor injury plus Rangnick’s arrival offered everybody a clean slate: an opportunity that Dalot certainly grabbed with both hands.

The German manager clearly prefers attacking full backs - a trait the modern game demands from a full back. Diego has a strong attacking profile, is confident in driving up the flank, making crucial overlapping runs and swinging balls into the box. Dalot is not the tallest but still wins more headers than those around him. He looks comfortable going forward and

does not shirk from taking shots at goal. In fact my most vivid memory of Dalot is those closing minutes of that memorable match against PSG in Paris in 2018 with Diego trying a shot from outside the area. The shot was blocked by a Kimpembe arm in the penalty area, VAR awarding United a penalty and Rashford’s 94th minute penalty sending us all to heaven.

Spiderman a.k.a. Aaron Wan-Bissaka’s attacking capabilities have continued to be questioned. Although the England international had a combined total of eight direct goal contributions last season, actually better than Dalot’s return of four, he will need to fight hard and build upon last season’s marginally improved attacking campaign if he is to take back his starting position. Certainly he has improved, even going forward, but at present Diego Dalot seems to be the answer to United’s long lacked defender that is comfortable enough to traverse inside the opposition’s half and add a balance to the attacking intent exhibited by Luke Shaw and Telles on the opposite flank.

Shaw vs Telles Up till just weeks ago, it would have been unimaginable for Luke Paul Hoare Shaw to be absent from the United starting line-up. At 26 years of age, Luke is a product of the Southampton youth system. In June 2014, Shaw was signed by Manchester United for £30 million, then a world-record transfer fee for a teenager. Shaw made his senior international debut for England in March 2014 and scored his first international goal in the UEFA Euro 2020 Final. For United, he has scored two goals. Last season he won the Players’ Player of the Year Award. However this season his starting spot was always under constant threat from Telles. Alex Telles continues to star under interim manager Ralf Rangnick.

Alex, 29 years of age and born in Brazil, also holds Italian citizenship. He had found it difficult to displace Shaw last season, in what was his debut campaign at Old Trafford after a £15million move from Porto. He ended up representing Brazil at international level, making his senior international debut in 2019. He made almost 130 appearances for Porto and won four trophies, including two league titles, as well as being named in the Primeira Liga Team of the Year for three consecutive seasons. In October 2020, he signed for Manchester United.

So, who should be picked at left back? Alex or Luke? Statistics show that Shaw scores considerably higher than Telles in terms of defensive qualities, figures for tackling ability, ball recoveries and interceptions, and disrupting opposition moves. However, in terms of defending quality, Shaw ranks lower; and despite being a couple of inches shorter than Shaw , Telles comes out top on aerial duels. It should also be noted that Telles has a 42 per cent clean sheet ratio, compared with Shaw’s 12.5 per cent clean sheet rate. Anka who compiled the statistics, claims that the differences reflect team styles, Telles’ figures having been recorded while playing for his previous club, Porto. ‘Telles is a progressive passer’, opines Anka, ‘… and his lesser build-up play at Porto was a result of his approach to ball retention; he would try to get the ball into the box where possible, but if the chance wasn’t on, he’d tend to pass backwards rather than to a midfielder who might work a better angle.’ With regards to Luke Shaw, Anka says, ‘Shaw is a good left-back. He’s not a titlewinning one, and probably needs to do a little bit more to crossover into great full-back, but … Shaw offers a degree of balance and calm in a side often short of both.’

Telles had scored 26 goals and contributed more than 50 assists in his 129 appearances for Porto, while so far in over 40 matches played, he has only grabbed one goal for Manchester United, in the Villarreal Champions League encounter.

In my view Telles has earned the right to stay in Manchester United’s starting line-up, having had to play second fiddle to Shaw ever since he joined. His arrival did lead to an upturn in form for Shaw, the best spell of his career, but his performances nosedived earlier this season, and Alex Telles rightly stepped in.