Middlesbrough have reportedly nudged ahead in the race to sign young Premier League attacker Amad Diallo.
The Manchester United forward was on loan at Sunderland last season and according to the Patreon account of journalist Alan Nixon, Middlesbrough are looking to take the 21-year-old to the Riverside during this window.
Southampton have also shown an interest in the Ivorian, but it is Boro who lead the way, owing to the fact that they are the ones who are most willing to meet the alleged asking price in terms of wage contribution.
Michael Carrick has already welcomed Luke Ayling from Leeds and Finn Azaz from Aston Villa as Steve Gibson continues to back his young Head Coach with funds. Boro are still fighting on two fronts this season as they chase promotion aswell as a place in the Carabao Cup final.
The Carrick connection
Diallo is a player that would surely walk into most current Championship sides. His talent shone brightly last season for Sunderland, where he bagged an impressive 14 goals and 3 assists. He has played most of his football on the right-hand side, but with Isaiah Jones already playing well there, it would not be too much of a stretch to assume that Diallo could be utilised in a more central position under Carrick.
His stats from last season outline just how impressive a player he is. The stats-taken from FotMob website-show that he was in the top 96% of players when it came to goals (13), penalties scored (3), successful passes (1144), pass accuracy (86.3%) and long ball accuracy (78.9%).
Of course stats aren’t everything but they certainly substantiate that he would be a very worthwhile addition to Carrick’s current crop.
Michael Carrick’s connections with Manchester United will help facilitate such a move you feel, although the player may have mixed feelings about joining a club with such a rivalry with Sunderland. However, Tony Mowbray has now moved on from Wearside and so even if Sunderland were interested (which they don’t appear to be) he would be operating under a completely new manager in any case.
Much will surely depend on the player himself, who is currently away on international duty at the African Cup of Nations, and Man Utd’s ability to bring in more firepower themselves.
Sancho has already departed, with Hannibal also close to moving on. But it does seem that Ten Hag is happy to allow Diallo to go back out on loan, and a deal between Middlesbrough, an attack-minded outfit who like to play football, and United who want to develop their young talent, seems a sensible one for all concerned.