Amad Diallo? Man Utd signed the wrong brother
Carlo Garganese
- Updated: 10 Apr 2022 17:00 BST
- 4 min read
Much has been said recently about the struggles of wonderkid Amad Diallo since his big-money move to Manchester United in January 2021.
The Ivory Coast winger joined from Atalanta in a deal worth an eventual €40 million, a huge fee for an 18-year-old who had made just five senior appearances for Atalanta.
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Amad was described as a once-in-a-generation talent and compared to Lionel Messi by his former Atalanta teammate Papu Gomez.
The youngster’s former coach Giovanni Galli predicted he would win the Ballon d’Or within five years.
But the proceeding 15 months have been something of a misery for Amad.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and then Ralf Rangnick never believed he was ready to be a regular part of the Man Utd squad and he has made only three starts and nine appearances for Man Utd in all competition, scoring just the one goal.
In 2021-22, he played just once for United – a 1-1 dead-rubber against Young Boys when Man Utd were already qualified as Champions League group winners.
Man Utd decided to loan Amad out in the January 2022 transfer window to Glasgow Rangers. But his start to life in Scotland has been just as bad.
He scored on his debut against Ross County but was hauled off in his next game after 45 minutes against Celtic following a dreadful performance.
Ever since then he has fallen further and further down the pecking order. In Rangers' last 12 games, he has made just three sub appearances with no starts.
Who is Hamed Traore?
On the same day that Amad was granted 28 minutes as a substitute in a 4-0 win at St Mirren, his brother Hamed Traore was enjoying a man-of-the-match performance against Atalanta.
The 22-year-old Hamed scored both of his side's goals in a 2-1 win over the Serie A side.
FINALE | #SassuoloAtalanta 2⃣-1⃣
Il Sassuolo torna alla vittoria e che vittoriaaaa!!!!!! Grande prova neroverde al #MapeiStadium!!!! Bravi ragazziiiiiii 👏👏👏#ForzaSasol 🖤💚 pic.twitter.com/HvYWepInag
— U.S. Sassuolo (@SassuoloUS) April 10, 2022
Hamed thus continued his sensational form in 2022. He now has an incredible seven goals in his last nine games for Sassuolo.
And many of these goals have come against big teams; finding the net versus Juventus (a beautiful curler), Atalanta, Roma, Fiorentina and Lazio, as well as grabbing an assist against Inter.
Until now, it has been Amad Diallo who has got most of the attention in the Traore family but Hamed is showing that he is a big talent in his own right.
He is capable of playing in a number of positions in the attack, having been utilised on the left wing, as a central attacking midfielder, a right winger and also in a deeper central midfield role.
Despite being only two years older than Amad, he is much further advanced in his senior development.
This is his fourth full season in Serie A, having originally debuted in Serie B in 2017 at the age of 2017 for Empoli before moving to Sassuolo in 2019.
He has already made over 100 senior appearances, and netted a respectable five goals in both of his first two campaigns for Sassuolo. He has eight so far this term. Amad, on the other hand, has only 20 senior appearances in his career and just three goals.
Hamed has been followed by both Juventus and Arsenal and will surely be in the transfer gaze again this summer.
Perhaps Man Utd signed the wrong brother!
