Yesterday, Amad Diallo was announced to Manchester United fans across the world as United's newest recruit to their team after pre-agreeing terms with Atalanta for his transfer back in October. His move however took time due to work permit issues but has now officially signed for Manchester United and will be flying to Manchester later today.
Signed ✍️
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) January 7, 2021
Sealed 🤝
Delivered 👋
We are 𝙙𝙚𝙡𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩𝙚𝙙 to confirm @AmadDiallo79's transfer to United has been finalised!#MUFC
His £18.90m transfer (minus add-ons) has left questions on fans lips however as many people don't know about him or know little about the Ivorian winger. We will be taking a look at the man behind the price-tag and what he could possibly bring to the Manchester United dynamic.
Who is Amad Diallo?
Diallo, previously known as Amad Diallo Traore, is an Ivorian winger who has also been known to play anywhere across the attack. In total, Diallo has played 54 games as a right winger, 11 games as a left winger, 11 games as a centre-forward, three games as a second striker and three games as an attacking midfielder. This shows us that he is a versatile young player who can play anywhere across the attack when needed, despite this he is predominantly a right winger due to his preferred left foot.
On a scout report by the online football scout Jacek Kulig, he stated that Amad Diallo's strengths are "pace, dribbling, technique, ball control, first touch".
TALENT OF THE DAY
— Football Talent Scout - Jacek Kulig (@FTalentScout) November 6, 2020
Amad Traoré
Age: 18
Country: 🇨🇮
Club: Atalanta (future transfer to Man United)
Position: LW/RW/SS
Player role: inside forward
Strengths: pace, dribbling, technique, ball control, first touch
Foot: left
Similar type of player: Riyad Mahrez
Potential: 9,5/10
Amad began his footballing journey at the age of 12, joining Boca Barco's youth team in 2014. After impressing at a local Christmas tournament in the same year, he began to get noticed by several scouts from top Italian clubs. In the tournament he was not only the youngest on the pitch, he was the most skilled as he came out as the tournaments top goal scorer. In 2015 he moved to Atalanta.
On the 27th of October 2019, he made his Serie A debut coming on as a substitute against Udinese. After just four minutes of coming on he had scored his first senior goal which was a blistering strike to beat Udinese's keeper. The goal can be seen below at 0:40 seconds.
What can Amad bring to United?
Following on from what I've already mentioned about Diallo, let's take a look at what he can offer to United.
First of all lets take a look at his stats in all competitions in his short career. In total, professionally for Atalanta he has played 98 games for both the senior team and the youth team in all competitions. In these 98 games he has scored 38 goals and assisted 24, this is 62 goal contributions in 98 games which is phenomenal for a player of his youth. Out of these goals and assists he has provided 22 goals and 21 assists from the right wing, 4 goals and 1 assist from the left, 6 goals as a striker and 2 goals and 1 assist as an attacking midfielder.
This tells us that Amad is an out and out right forward despite his versatility as he gets the most goal contributions from there which is good news for United fans as they have been crying out for a proper right winger for years.
Despite these impressive stats, Diallo has not played much first team football for Atalanta and only has 59 minutes of first team play time on his record. This may come as a surprise to some after seeing how much United paid for Diallo, however Manchester United are investing in the potential of this player. He has a glass ceiling potential and is held in high regard by his team mates and scouts in Italy. One quote about Amad Traore from arguably Atalanta's best player, Papu Gomez speaks volumes about his potential. As seen below
Alejandro Darío Gómez (Atalanta) on Amad Traoré: "He’s a future star, trust me. During our training sessions he seems like Messi! You can’t stop him, he’s unbelievable, our centre backs have serious problems when Traoré is on the pitch." #mulive [@FabrizioRomano]
— utdreport (@utdreport) October 5, 2020
Other quotes from people such as Enzo Guerri, the president of Boca Barco, show how his potential was spotted at such a young age.
Enzo Guerri (president of Amad Diallo's old club): "When Diallo made a chest control in the fifth minute, he [Roma scout] walked away. I immediately asked him for an explanation and he answered me 'Things like that, at the age of 12, only potential champions do'." #mulive [tmw]
— utdreport (@utdreport) January 7, 2021
He then goes on to talk about how Amad even impressed against older players.
Enzo Guerri: "'[Roma scout continues] Seeing him in this match is of little use, take him to Rome to train with our team'. At Atalanta, however, they made him play from day one with the boys a year older than him. In short, Amad has always been predestined." #mulive [tmw]
— utdreport (@utdreport) January 7, 2021
Conclusion
From what we have seen of Amad Diallo in his currently short career, they're certainly very promising signs of a great future ahead of him, however will he be involved in first team action due to his lack of senior experience or will he be thrown into the deep end? That is not yet known however I believe given time he will prove himself on the big stage.
If you want to see more on Amad Diallo, check out the YouTube video below.
