MANCHESTER United know they have the option of sending Amad Diallo back to Sunderland for another year if they decide in the summer that the youngster is not yet ready to break into the first team at Old Trafford.

Amad has had a huge impact on Wearside this season, with Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray describing the youngster's spell at the Stadium of Light as "amazing".

But despite his obvious talent, it's still not clear whether Amad will be able to force his way into Erik ten Hag's first team plans for next season. Manchester United rate the young Ivorian highly and if they ultimately decide that the forward is better off spending another season playing regularly elsewhere then Sunderland will be at the front of the queue.

Even if Amad doesn't go out on loan again next season and doesn't return to the Stadium of Light, Sunderland could still benefit from the forward's success on Wearside.

Boss Mowbray has an excellent record of developing young talent and Amad's impact this season will have been noted by the Premier League's top clubs, which stands Sunderland in good stead when it comes to picking up more young top flight talent on loan this coming summer.

Reflecting on Amad's season so far, Mowbray told MUTV: "I think my first game was against Rotherham at home and I didn’t see him beforehand. We picked the team but we’d only had one day’s training and I think he got introduced to the crowd at half-time in that game.

"It took him a few weeks, to be honest, and I almost put him in the mix with the other young foreign players the club had signed, players from France and Costa Rica, and Amad. I had watched Amad come off the bench generally for Glasgow Rangers in the season prior and saw little bits and bobs but it didn’t take him long.

"After a few weeks, I think all the coaching staff could see the talent, I’m going to say the brilliance he has with the ball. The ball seems so easy to him, on his left foot, but he needed to build his own confidence levels up, I think to the point where, maybe eight weeks ago, he was scoring almost every game. I think he goes through one spell of five in six games, something like that.

"He’s been amazing for us. I don’t want to sit here and overplay it as, like all young players, he has things he has got to get better at, things he has to learn and it’s right, every now and again, to shout at him and demand. He can sit there and think I’ve come from United, he’s on loan and he doesn’t really have to give everything he’s got in any given moment, especially as he knows he’s one of the best players, if not the best player here. He could easily, some days, just not bother and yet that’s not his personality.

"He reacts, when I have shouted at him occasionally, he reacts the right way. He is a good guy and a good human being. That is why he is so liked at this football club. Of course, his goals have helped us win football matches and his assists have been amazing but I always, firstly, like having good human beings at the football club. Amad fits into that category.

"The fans have got many songs about him and you don’t get to that level really without doing it on the pitch. Just because a player comes from Manchester United, if he’s not performing to a high level, the fans don’t endear themselves and yet Amad is a big favourite here"

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Mowbray is absolutely certain that Amad has the talent to break through into the first team at Old Trafford, but has told Manchester United that Sunderland's door is open if they think he's better off going out on loan again next term.

Mowbray said: "We’re delighted he’s here. I hope he’s progressing, I hope Manchester United see the development of him, just playing football. I know Gary Pallister very well and I sit with Pally sometimes and we have a coffee and I say to him the football club shouldn’t worry about the boy with the ball.

"If he’s got the right personality and only time will tell when he is among the star players at United whether he can integrate and become part of what they want to do, because they shouldn’t fear he is going to lose the ball too often or give the ball way or make bad decisions. At this level, he is a maestro with the ball.

"I hope Amad will bring personality to the team when he gets back to Old Trafford and he will find his niche in that group. If not, Sunderland are always welcome to have him back because he’s been amazing for us."