Diallo's resurgence has Sancho looking over his shoulder at Man Utd

FT Desk

• 11 Nov 2022 16:41 CST
• 4 min read

Alejandro Garnacho isn't the only young winger Jadon Sancho should be worried about with Amad Diallo finally building on his early promise on loan at Sunderland.

Diallo scored one and assisted another as Sunderland beat Birmingham 2-1 in the Championship on Friday, meaning he has enjoyed four goal-involvements in his last four games on loan at the Black Cats.

Garnacho has been earning high praise for his performances in Man Utd's first team, meanwhile, opening his account for the club against Real Sociedad in the Europa League last Thursday before laying on two assists as the Red Devils avenged their recent Premier League defeat to Aston Villa with a 4-2 win in the Carabao Cup one week later.

READ: Amad Diallo finally making a positive impression at Sunderland

Sancho hasn't found the target since September, when he opened the scoring in a 2-0 win over Sheriff Tiraspol, and was one of the headline-grabbing casualties of Gareth Southgate's England squad announcement for the upcoming Word Cup in Qatar.

Garnacho has emerged as Erik ten Hag's first-choice winger of late, and Sancho has fallen behind the €100 million Antony for the right to occupy the opposite flank from the Argentine, let alone Marcus Rashford and Anthony Elanga.

And now Diallo's emergence makes his Man Utd future look even bleaker. United bought the young Ivorian from Atalanta for a total of €40m in 2021 after he had lit up Italian youth football, and they made a point of only allowing him to leave on loan this summer, their belief in him still there.

READ: No World Cup, dropped by Man Utd: What's gone wrong for Sancho?

Goals and assists

"He has all these soft, lovely feet and brilliant skills," Sunderland manager Tony Mowbray said recently. "But he needs to shoot when he gets in the box. When he sees the goal, he needs to shoot, and he needs to add goals and assists to his name."

And now Diallo is doing just that. He added both on Friday. He showed incredible strength and skill to assist Ellis Simms for the opener, and his own strike to make it 2-0 was a cut-inside curler that would have done Arjen Robben proud.

There was a time not so long ago when Sancho was the great usurper, outshining Christian Pulisic at Borussia Dortmund before the American's 2019, €64m move to Chelsea. But now, after his own €85m move to England with United last summer, Sancho already has hungry youngsters ready to replace him.

Garnacho has already done so, and if Diallo can turn this hot streak into something more lasting, Sancho had better up his game.