Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim revealed that Amad Diallo could make a surprise return from injury before the end of the season.
In a campaign which has broken all the wrong records, Amad has offered a rare glimmer of hope for the Red Devils. The dainty forward racked up a team-high six Premier League goals – more than the combined efforts of strikers Joshua Zirkzee (three) and Rasmus Hojlund (two).
Amad’s figures are still among the best at United even though he has been sidelined for the past month with ankle ligament damage. When the crushing news broke in February, initial reports suggested that the 22-year-old would be out for the remainder of the season.
Amorim questioned that diagnosis in his press conference on Friday. “I have the hope to have Amad before [the season’s conclusion],” the Portuguese boss told reporters. “We will see the end of the last month.”
When reflecting on the injury issues littered throughout the rest of the squad, Amorim was also upbeat. “Kobbie [Mainoo] can return,” United’s head coach insisted. “[Harry] Maguire, we have to be careful, Manuel [Ugarte] will return, and I think Mason [Mount] and Luke Shaw can return also.”
Lisandro Martinez definitely won’t feature in the near future after tearing his ACL in February.
For all Amorim’s optimism, United’s injury-riddled squad has left him with few options to rotate or make in-game changes of late. The club were forced to name just 18 players in the squad which duked out a 1-1 draw with Real Sociedad in the Europa League on Thursday night.
After taking a deserved lead through Joshua Zirkzee, United failed to capitalise upon their superiority and conceded a sloppy penalty, leaving the last-16 tie very much in the balance ahead of next week’s return fixture at Old Trafford.
Amorim admitted that his weakened squad “was so tired in the last 20 minutes” against La Real and didn’t expect any of his injured stars to recover in time for a Premier League visit from Arsenal this weekend. “We need to survive Sunday,” the 40-year-old warned.
