Amad Diallo 'very unlikely' to return to Sunderland, admits Tony Mowbray

Tony Mowbray has admitted that it is ‘pretty unlikely’ that Amad Diallo will return to Sunderland next season, but he’s not ruling it out entirely.

Amad has been sensational for Sunderland since joining on loan from Manchester United last summer, and he underlined his value once again with a brilliant individual winner against Birmingham last week.

There has never really felt like much hope of Sunderland being able to extend his stay, though, and Mowbray is keen to temper expectations in that regard.

However, he is also not yet ready to abandon all hope entirely just yet either.

"I don't know Amad well enough to know what drives him," Mowbray said. "He loves football, he wants to play, so what do you do if you're at Manchester United?

"Are you happy just to be a Manchester United player and play six sub appearances and two starts over a 60-game season for them? Or would you want to go and play?

"So are they going to sell him, and if they do they will want to recoup their money which was reportedly €40m or whatever it was? I don't know. I think the reality is that he won't be coming here, unless they think he is going to be one helluva player and he needs another year out playing, and he enjoys it at Sunderland so he can stay there.

"That would be the ideal scenario for us - pretty unlikely, I would suggest, but you never know. If they feel he is someone who could genuinely play in their first team somewhere down the line, they need to keep him on board but I would suggest they will try another level.

"You would think he would go to a Premier League club or maybe back to Italy and play in Serie A, or Spain or wherever it might be. My gut feeling with Amad is that if he doesn't stay at Manchester United, he will go for big money to a top Spanish team, I think.

"But let's hope he is playing for Sunderland next year and banging in the goals. If we did sneak into [the Premier League], there is a much better chance that he could come back.

"He would be playing against Premier League teams every week, he's in an environment here where he is already settled and likes the environment he is in."

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