Tony Mowbray will never forget the moment he first set eyes on Amad Diallo.
“When I got the call to manage Sunderland it was out of the blue so my thinking was simple: judge them on what they do on the training pitch,” he recalls. And one player was impossible to ignore – the slight 20-year-old loan signing who “seemed to just be having fun”.
“With Amad the ball was just stuck to his left foot, no-one could get the ball off him or get anywhere near him. He’s that kind of player who can beat three men in a phone box, you know? I turned to my assistant Mark Venus and said: ‘This kid is a genius. Why hasn’t he been playing?’”
It didn’t take long for Mowbray to change that. Diallo was deployed as a “false nine”, played 37 times and scored 13 goals in a season where Sunderland rediscovered themselves.
He signed for a club who had just returned to the Championship after four seasons in League One but the storm clouds were gathering. Manager Alex Neil had walked out in protest at the club’s model, which he felt wouldn’t allow them to compete in the second tier. Questions were being asked of the ownership.
The unassuming Diallo arrived off the back of a failed loan spell at Rangers – his talent was undoubted but expectations were fairly muted. He ended up becoming one of the most important loan signings in the club’s history, helping to shift the mood around the club profoundly.
“At the time I don’t think Sunderland fans really knew what to expect. They’d been in League One but it’s a massive club so expectations are high,” Mowbray says.
“Amad ended up being perfect for us. Hugely, hugely talented boy but also not in the slightest bit flashy or arrogant. He’s quite insular, certainly not gregarious, not a ‘look at me’ type because he does it with his feet instead.
“Hard work is a non-negotiable at Sunderland. They loved Amad because he did all of that, put his body on the line, got into his tackles, but he was also unbelievably talented as well.”
Mowbray is typically modest about his role in Diallo’s progress but the player was moved to tears by a video message from his former manager that was shown to him in a Sky interview this week.
“As I do with all footballers, I try and encourage him to be the best version of themselves by reconnecting with their inner child,” Mowbray recalls.
“To be a professional footballer you’ve all been the best player in your school team. We’ve all been the best in the district and the county and he needed to find his inner child and believe in his talent.
“I was constantly saying ‘Give the ball to Amad, give the ball to Amad’ and it grew really. He didn’t want to let the team down, he knew he had a responsibility and he just did amazingly well.”
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If confidence ever wavered, The i Paper understands that Sunderland would make their pitch. Still considered a “dream signing” by key figures in the club’s recruitment department, the Black Cats have tried several times to re-sign Diallo since that first loan spell. Every time Manchester United have knocked them back but interest endures.
“We certainly wanted to bring him back and it would have happened if it was possible because he loved his time at Sunderland,” Mowbray says.
“But I remember saying to Stuart Harvey that on the back of what he’d achieved with us he would get a chance. Their loans manager was in the stands most weeks, so they knew what they had. Of course I wanted him back but I was also happy for him that he got the chance at Manchester United because I couldn’t speak highly enough about him as a person and a footballer.”
