Amad: Little in size, big in talent
When you do the right things in the right moments, things will come to you and you are prepared,” said Bruno Fernandes, speaking immediately after last month’s stunning comeback win at Manchester City. By his side, Amad – the subject of the skipper’s assessment – kept his eyes affixed on the floor.
In a United career punctuated by loans, injuries and managerial changes ever since his arrival from Atalanta, uncertainty and complexity have been interwoven through his tale. Amad was signed, blooded and loaned out by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, gradually introduced into senior regularity by Erik ten Hag and now, in recent weeks, subtly repurposed as a first-team staple by Ruben Amorim.
Previously utilised almost exclusively as an inverted right-winger or an occasional centre-forward, the fleet-footed fledgling has demonstrated his adaptability by excelling as both a right wing-back and a no.10 in the opening games of Amorim’s reign. “Little in size, very big in talent,” was the Portuguese’s succinct summary of his no.16’s presence – not least because of his seamless adaptation into the new role.
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Those sentiments were echoed after Amorim’s first Premier League home game, in which Amad was involved in three of the Reds’ four goals against Everton. “He was really good again,” grinned the head coach, who was quick to salute the role of his predecessor, interim manager Ruud van Nistelrooy. “He [Amad] is in a great moment, but that moment started with Ruud,” added Amorim. “I’ve just taken advantage of Ruud’s work with Amad. He was really good defensively and really good attacking, so he has to continue to play like that.”
Following his eye-catching display at Viktoria Plzen, Amad has now made more United appearances in the first half of 2024/25 than in the previous three-and-a-half seasons combined. With each outing, he has increasingly caught the eye.
Such progress naturally heightens expectations, but the Ivorian attacker has become accustomed to ever-changing pressures since his arrival in English football. Often heightened by his absence, anticipation has consistently grown around the player so tantalisingly labelled by Solskjaer as “one of the most exciting young prospects in the game” before he had even kicked a ball for the Reds.
His exploits north of the border led to a season-long stint at Sunderland in 2022/23, where a starring role in the Black Cats’ run to the Championship play-offs only hiked up the clamour in and around his parent club.
Just when his inclusion on the pre-season United States tour of 2023 raised expectations further, Amad’s 2023/24 campaign was halved by a serious knee injury sustained against Arsenal in New Jersey, placing him under the demands of long-term rehabilitation. After returning to make his first Reds appearance in over two years at Nottingham Forest in December 2023, the winger slowly began to make an impact in Ten Hag’s first team, taking his place in club folklore with an injury-time (in extra-time) winner against Liverpool in March’s FA Cup classic at Old Trafford.
Amid the hysteria which gripped the Theatre of Dreams in those wild moments, Amad’s reaction was calmness personified: removing his shirt and displaying his name to those in the stands and the watching football world. Though few realised it at the time, his goal had just laid out his skillset for all to see: quick-thinking and tenacity to nab possession from Harvey Elliott; speed and stamina to race alongside Alejandro Garnacho; intelligence to peel into space and prohibit lone defender Conor Bradley from committing to a decision and then, having taken Garnacho’s pass, a perfect touch and threaded finish in the only untended part of the Stretford End goal.
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A strong end to last season followed, but it is in 2024/25 that Amad is sustainedly showing his best. In a season where column inches have often been allotted to off-field events at Old Trafford, his performances have been among the headline-makers on the pitch. With five goals and seven direct assists this season, he’s captured the essence of that true United tradition: wide players who excite the Old Trafford gallery. His inclusion now causes a stir even before kick-off, raising hope and expectation of entertainment and endeavour.
Amad has played uninhibited by the arduous nature of his journey so far. As he recently admitted: “I was out for a long time. But the important thing was to come back stronger. I was happy with my contribution. I forgot about the past and I am thinking about the present.” The Ivorian is treating every current moment as an opportunity to keep building – an attitude which drew high praise from interim boss van Nistelrooy last month. “He’s constantly focused on learning and getting better, living in a professional way and he’s very motivated to get the best out of his career,” said the Dutchman.
It was under van Nistelrooy’s temporary charge that Amad netted the first brace of his Reds career during November’s Europa League win over PAOK at Old Trafford, looping home a precise header before curling in a clinching second which showcased an invaluable facet of his game: aggressive pressing. The Ivorian hassled left-back Rahman Baba out of possession, wriggled away from his opponent and fired home, underlining not only his ability to conjure something from nothing, but also showcasing his worth in a more front-foot, aggressive, attacking doctrine.
Of the 21 United goals scored this term prior to Ten Hag’s departure in late October, only one – Rasmus Hojlund’s winner against Brentford, stemming from an under-hit clearance – could be loosely attributed to a turnover in opposition territory. When van Nistelrooy temporarily stepped up to take charge, that trend began to change; Amad’s second against PAOK preceded similarly successful pressing against Leicester in the Dutchman’s fourth and final game.
Though the Ivorian notched an assist for his adroit backheel to tee up Bruno Fernandes’s fine curler, the goal was traceable entirely to his work 20 seconds earlier. As a Foxes corner was thundered clear by Hojlund, visiting defender Victor Kristiansen ill-advisedly allowed the ball to bounce near the halfway line, prompting Amad to rapidly close him down, head the ball forward for himself and carry possession upfield into the Leicester area. Just 10 seconds after ending that run by winning a throw-in, the forward’s backheel to Fernandes resulted in the deadlock being broken.
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United already led 1-0 when the 22-year-old, triggered by goalkeeper Jordan Pickford’s pass to Abdoulaye Doucoure, was on the midfielder in a flash, prompting a hurried backwards prod towards Jarrad Branthwaite, who was immediately consumed by the one-man swarm of Amad. As possession ran loose to Fernandes, the skipper picked up the assist for Joshua Zirkzee, but both were quick to acknowledge where the goal began. When Zirkzee bagged his second after the break, it again stemmed from the breathless, fearless industry of the Ivorian, who once again made a mockery of any disadvantage in mass or power by breezing through a 50-50 challenge with James Tarkowski inside the Everton half before squaring for Zirkzee’s conversion. Those two key pressing contributions bookended a perfectly weighted assist for Rashford’s second, shortly after the break.
Another followed for Fernandes against Forest, while a star-turn in the Reds’ Europa League win at Viktoria Plzen featured a brilliant piece of skill and deflected shot which laid on a tap-in for Hojlund to equalise. Then, of course, came his star turn in the derby, during which former Reds skipper Gary Neville labelled Amad “a shining light”. The eye-catching displays against Plzen and City came from Amad being shifted once again from wing-back to a right-sided no.10 role, with no drop-off in overall performance. “You can’t be focused only in one position,” he acknowledged recently. “Sometimes you can play as a defender, sometimes you can play as a striker. Wherever the manager puts me, I’m ready to fight for the team. I have no problem to play just as the right-winger or no. 10, I can play everywhere. Like I said to the manager, if you need me as a keeper, I’m ready to do my best!
“We try to follow the coach’s philosophy. He speaks to the players; he was a footballer himself, so he understands our feelings, and we are happy to have him. I always try to repay the coach’s trust. We’ve been on good terms since he arrived. He’s always tried to help me, especially because I am playing a new role. It’s a position I already covered at Atalanta under [Gian Piero] Gasperini, but it was more towards the middle. This wing-back position is kind of new to me. I try to do it and the coach is helping me. I am enjoying every moment.”
“Wherever the manager puts me, I’m ready to fight for the team. I have no problem to play just as the right-winger or no. 10, I can play everywhere. Like I said to the manager, if you need me as a keeper, I’m ready to do my best!”
With training time limited, having joined mid-season at the busiest period in the football calendar, Amorim’s ability to both learn and educate with his new squad is hamstrung, but one of the quickest wins he was able to establish was the regular inclusion of Amad, who appeared in all seven of the Portuguese’s opening seven games, starting five.
While previously explaining the forward’s redeployment as a wing-back, Amorim was keen to highlight the versatility which seems certain to make Amad a feature of Old Trafford’s new age. “We choose Amad [at right wing-back] to have one against one outside,” he explained. “And that is very important to break some pressures, and especially high pressures, and he has that ability. In that position, the way he receives the ball, if you are right-footed, sometimes you don’t have the space to come inside. And then in that position, you need to have a good physicality. Good physicality is not his size, but he can run, and that is a key point in that position. So you try to choose players that you can put in that position and then the technical characteristics is perfect for him.
“I think it’s one of the great advantages of Amad, for me. He’s very good playing in that position but also playing between the lines because he has good control and he seems faster with the ball than without the ball. So it’s something that he has and he is capable of playing in both positions. And he can play in different systems. In the future, we will play in the different system, maybe, so it’s that kind of player that we need in the team.”
Through ever-changing demands and varying challenges throughout his Old Trafford tale to date, United’s no.16 has continued to adapt. As Fernandes concluded in his assessment after the derby: “It’s great what he did today, but I’m pretty sure he can do this every week. We expect it.”
After so much change, as the ultra-versatile emblem of Ruben Amorim’s evolving, shapeshifting young side, Amad has one fundamental responsibility: don’t change.
Statistics included have been updated since this feature was first published in our official matchday programme, United Review, for the game against Bournemouth on 22 December.