Ahead of this weekend’s clash with Birmingham City, Tony Mowbray met with the press and discussed Manchester United loanee Amad Diallo.
WILL HE RETURN IN RED AND WHITE?
“I don’t think that’s my domain at this football club to be honest. Amad is a wonderful footballer, I know how much he enjoys his football and enjoys the environment, being around his team mates. But you have to put it into context he’s a Manchester United player, he cost them a lot of money, and whatever their plans are from him they will have him back at the end of this season and go on their pre-season tour. It’s their decision really and I think unless he’s told he’s going out on loan again we just have to abide by that really and if he did go out on loan there might be some Premier League sides that have seen the talent and would have recognised that he could play for them.”
WHAT’S HE MEANT TO SUNDERLAND THIS SEASON?
“Well I think first and foremost his natural talent is there for everybody to see, I shouldn’t need to eulogise what he can do with the ball at his feet, it’s almost stuck to his left foot. He’s built up a wonderful relationship with Patrick Roberts, their clever interactions and one-twos and the linking with each other was really good and it’s been great that he’s been able to score some goals because early on he wouldn’t shoot. Early on you could see how talented he was, he’d get into the box and was always looking to pass, he needed to break out of that mode and I think now he’s in a mode where he’s enjoying scoring and celebrating and helping the team win. He’s a nice kid, he’s very, very talented. Sometimes you have to give him a little gee to make sure he knows how important this game is because again he’s not our player and he knows he’s got another home at Manchester United."
ENJOYED HIS LOAN
"Every game is massively important of course and sometimes when you’re as talented as him I need to make sure he doesn’t just turn up and go through the motions and it’s comfortable for him and he can just do what he wants. We’ve really enjoyed working with Amad, he’s a fantastic lad, great footballer and I’ll be really interested to see the direction his career takes.”
