Sunderland manager explains Amad Diallo decision after Burnley draw

Amad Diallo is enjoying a breakthrough campaign in the Championship as he continues to build his career with Sunderland following a challenging 12 months at Manchester United and Rangers.

Amad joined the Reds halfway through the 2020/21 season and was used by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in that campaign, most notably when he scored United’s only goal in a thrilling 1-1 Europa League draw with AC Milan.

The following season, he was meant to join Feyenoord on loan but an untimely injury meant that move fell through, with the first half of the season instead being spent on the treatment table.

Since then, he endured a troublesome six months at Rangers before being assessed by Erik ten Hag in last year’s pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia.

That culminated in a season-long loan to Sunderland and that is where Amad has found his breakthrough, almost immediately becoming on the first names on the teamsheet at the Stadium of Light.

Tony Mowbray, the Sunderland manager, has spoken glowingly of Amad throughout the season but the young Ivorian was nowhere to be seen in the 0-0 draw with Burnley earlier this week.

Speaking after the game, Mowbray admitted that Amad was not named in the starting line-up due to his involvement with the Ivory Coast.

“He hasn’t trained with anybody all week, I’ve no idea what his physical condition is – obviously, we would want to start with Amad but we couldn’t start with him, it would have been the wrong thing to do. Edouard and Abdoullah have been away too, and they have been involved in three games,” Mowbray said, according to the Chronicle Live.

“There’s only Trai Hume who was away on international duty who started, and he didn’t play any minutes with Northern Ireland so he was pretty fresh.”

Amad was involved for his national side for the first time in almost two years, the latest confirmation that he is continuing to build on those promising first six months at United.

The 20-year-old was introduced as a second-half substitute against table-topping Burnley but he was not able to add to his already impressive goal tally. He currently finds himself at nine league goals for the season and he will be keen on reaching that elusive 10-goal mark.

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