“He’s not looking at it anymore… He’s looking at where the ball is going to bounce. That’s the only way he can get it. He can’t get it here, or here. He knows he can only get it after the bounce.”
Sky Sports’ Monday Night Football saw Thierry Henry pay Amad one of the highest compliments in football. To the Arsenal legend, Amad can see a game of football as how it is about to be played, rather than focusing on the things that have come beforehand.
That ability to spot things before they’ve happened and react while everyone is still ball-watching gives him a head start. When everyone else is wondering what might happen next, Amad has already decided how things might conclude. The 22-year-old can eke out a few fractions of an advantage when making a run, a pass or getting a shot away. In crucial moments — like the final minutes of a Manchester derby — that can be the difference between winning and losing.
Amad Diallo. Composed amid the madness. pic.twitter.com/iEKQru56BS
— Premier League (@premierleague) December 18, 2024
This calendar year has seen Amad go from a fringe player under Erik ten Hag to a cult hero under Ruben Amorim. Last-minute goals to beat Liverpool and Manchester City earned the attention-grabbing headlines but smaller moments of play have endeared him to team-mates and the United fanbase.
Ruud van Nistelrooy’s stint as interim head coach saw Amad play in close relation to Bruno Fernandes. It’s a working relationship that is improving week by week. Amad, like many United players, respects Fernandes’s energy, application, and ability to create. The United captain is among a growing contingent that appreciates Amad’s ability to collect the ball in tight spaces and wriggle past defenders.
Yet the Ivorian is more than flicks, tricks and nutmegs. His diminutive size (Amad is 5ft 8in/172cm) belies his intelligence of body and his ability to see what others cannot. Recent matches have seen him tussle with much larger defenders only to beat them off the ball. His low centre of gravity and excellent timing mean he can snatch possession from a defender if they take a heavy touch or look off-balance, or are lacking concentration.
Any ambivalence over the United man’s size has been eliminated in recent weeks. He is small but mighty, able to use his forward momentum to pack a punch that can send bigger players reeling. Everton’s tall centre-back duo of Jarrad Branthwaite (6ft 5in tall) and James Tarkowski (6ft 1in) were both stunned by the forward’s application earlier this December. Amad pinched the ball off both players before teeing up United team-mates for goalscoring opportunities in a 4-0 victory.
On Sunday, Kyle Walker, Josko Gvardiol and Matheus Nunes were all burned by Amad’s quick running and even quicker thinking. United’s opening goal came from the Ivorian seizing an opportunity that few recognised.
Here, he looks to close down Nunes’s slack backpass to Ederson within seconds of the ball being played. When everyone else is watching, Amad is already moving.
Amad’s run gets him to the ball before Ederson.
But then he – crucially – chooses not to shoot after immediately rounding the goalkeeper.
Amad has the awareness to recognise that Ederson’s recovery run would likely allow him to dive, and slide, to stop any first-time shot. Rather than attempt a (difficult) shot on goal, he checks back and stands up the City goalkeeper.
(Note the reactions of Tyrell Malacia and Victor Lindelof on the sideline after Amad’s decision not to shoot. The 22-year-old shocked more than just the travelling fans and those watching at home: he even managed to stun his team-mates.)
The chance looks to be gone but Amad again has been able to spot something that others have not: namely Nunes, who is closing him upon him at top speed in an attempt to make up for his poor backpass.
Amad shows his cleverness again before the City man makes impact, getting his foot on top of the ball and attempting to cut inside.
Every decision Amad made, from intercepting that backpass to not shooting, was done to maximise a goalscoring chance. That chance peaks when referee Anthony Taylor correctly blows for a foul and gives United a penalty.
The winning goal is born from similar circumstances. Amad is able to see a situation that others cannot and then reacts while many are still ball-watching. His initial run to connect with Lisandro Martinez’s pass is a little early, but he checks himself, cuts back onside and then makes a secondary run to put himself in a better position to latch onto the scooped aerial ball forward.
Broadcast footage distributed after United’s win at the Etihad Stadium suggested that Ruben Amorim urged Martinez to make his decisive pass to the tenacious and precocious Ivorian once Amad’s run had been made. United players and staff trust Amad to make the winning play when the time comes.
Amad is beginning to repay that faith, and then some.
He has one goal and four assists since Amorim’s arrival. Combine this with his two goals and another assist during Ruud van Nistelrooy’s interim tenure, and he has become his club’s most in-form attacking player.
“There’s still a lot to come from him because we really believe in his qualities,” Fernandes told Sky Sports after Sunday’s Manchester derby. He’s always alive; this is why he gets his penalty, this is why he gets his goal. He’s always been brilliant but I don’t want to say too much. (We need) to keep him going again because we need him at this level. When he’s like this, he’s unstoppable.”
This year has seen Amad take off. Will he be able to stick the landing in 2025?
Five of his seven appearances under Amorim have seen him initially deployed at right wing-back, with the Portuguese coach keen to make use of the forward’s left-footedness. Amad can outpace defenders in a footrace down the outside or cut inside and either shoot or pass, making him a standout player in United’s newer 3-4-2-1 shape, and a leading candidate for one of the No 10 positions.
He is not yet the finished article — three offsides in the Manchester derby (all in the first half) suggest that Amad’s talent for spotting what happens next might have to be communicated better with his team-mates. Amad’s ability to trap a ball and smuggle it through tight corridors also means he can emerge when players least expect it.
He also doesn’t suffer from a rush of blood to the head that can befall many forwards his age; he lacks the inclination to hammer a shot or punt in a hopeful cross once he’s nutmegged a defender. There are occasions when Amad’s passes in the final third fail to go from A to B because few United players expected him to get to point A in the first place. There’s a coolness to his final ball that can surprise even his most gifted teammates.
Amad described himself as “a chill guy” when speaking to United’s in-house media team following Sunday’s win over Manchester City. That composure will be important as Amorim looks to reduce the chaos and counter-attacking that has been a trademark of this squad in recent years.
Amad is able to spot things on a football pitch before they’ve happened. Hopefully, he has what it takes to parlay that into a bright future for Manchester United.
(Top photo: Carl Recine/Getty Images)