07 January 2024 , 21:59
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Manchester United talent Amad Diallo has hit back at reports suggesting he could be heading for the Old Trafford exit this month.
The young winger has spent this season with the Red Devils after last season's promising loan with Championship outfit Sunderland. Amad was one of the Black Cats' standout players, but also saw a knee injury curtail his momentum.
Now back at United, Amad had to wait until late December of last year to make his first appearance of the campaign. He was brought off the bench during the 2-1 defeat by Nottingham Forest at the City Ground, the club's last Premier League outing.
That lengthy spell on the sidelines has been cited as one reason why Amad could be plotting a move elsewhere, as well as his stellar relationship with former Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray, who has been linked with the vacant Birmingham job.
Former England international Carlton Palmer has claimed that Amad could be tempted into a switch to St. Andrews to reunite with Mowbray. “Amad Diallo had a successful spell at Sunderland last season where he was their player of the season and he was absolutely outstanding," Palmer explained to Football League World.
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"He picked up a knee injury in pre-season that’s kept him out. He’s fully fit now. He really enjoyed his time at Sunderland but he was working under Tony Mowbray, and he made it clear that he would go back to work for Tony Mowbray.
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"This could put a spanner in the works because although Sunderland are keen to sign him, if Tony Mowbray gets the Birmingham job then I’m sure Amad will be keen to join him there."
Amad has since issued a rather emphatic response to that claim, taking to X to write: "stop lying mate!". The post suggests the young Ivorian has no interest in leaving United, which will be music to the ears of club legend Rio Ferdinand, who once compared Amad to Cristiano Ronaldo.
"We've just bought a kid in from Atalanta and hopefully he does something," the ex-United defender claimed in 2021. "If you see his clips and speak to people at the club who are involved in buying him, potentially this kid could be a world-beater.
"That is the thought of Manchester United people that this kid is one they have unearthed. I don't want to put the pressure of Cristiano Ronaldo on him, but no-one knew about Ronaldo when we bought him other than the people in Portugal.
"This kid seems similar in that sense and if you see his clips and the way people talk about him, the world is his oyster if he applies himself right."