Man Utd’s "unplayable" Solskjaer signing is now worth £33m less

Simply put, Manchester United are on fire at the moment.

Erik ten Hag’s team is one of three in the Premier League to have not tasted defeat in the new year, and they’ve won all of their last four league games.

The latest of those was against Luton Town on Sunday, where they narrowly won 2-1, despite having the opportunity to hit at least five.

However, there was one player who cut out a frustrated figure while sitting on the bench at the weekend, with his Red Devils career not exactly going to plan.

Amad Diallo’s start to life in Manchester

Ivorian wonderkid Amad Diallo announced himself to the world as a 17-year-old for Atalanta in 2019, coming off the bench to score on his debut in a 7-1 win over Udinese.

In January 2021, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer finally got his man, as United secured the signature of the young winger in a whopping £37m deal, despite only playing five games for Atalanta’s first team.

He immediately joined the academy upon his arrival, where he proved to be levels above those both on his team and the opposition, scoring twice against Liverpool U21s and registering four goal contributions against Blackburn Rovers U21s.

Amad’s first real taste of action at United came in the Europa League against AC Milan, when he replaced Anthony Martial at halftime to take on a false nine role. Just minutes after his introduction, he already had the ball in the back of the net after making a darting run in behind and finishing with an excellent instinctive header.

Unfortunately, this has been the pinnacle of his United career so far.

Amad Diallo’s record in 2024

The 5 foot 8 gem’s first loan spell away from the Red Devils was to Rangers, yet that move wasn’t exactly successful, with Diallo starting just four league games and featuring on the bench in every game on their run to the Europa League final.

Luckily, his second loan spell was far more fruitful, as last season he was one of the most influential players in the Championship, where he was dubbed “unplayable” by journalist Graham Falk. His time at Sunderland ended with a record of 13 goals and three assists in 27 league starts.

The left-footed whizz has seen his development and momentum from last season come to a complete stop, with an injury in pre-season keeping him out of action until December, and since then, Ten Hag has prevented him from going out on loan for the rest of the season. The former Black Cats ace has played just 36 minutes all campaign.

To this day, Diallo is still regarded as one of the most exciting talents at the club, and if it weren’t for Alejandro Garnacho arguably being one of their most dangerous players in the team and playing in the 21-year-old’s position, he may have had more chances to work his magic on the field.

However, his lack of action in the United first team has caused his value to drop significantly, with the gem now estimated to be worth around £4m, according to CIES Football Observatory, which is £33m less than what Solskjaer and co paid for him in 2021.

Although United did massively overpay for Diallo, he is still an exciting prospect with bags of potential. All he needs is an opportunity to showcase what he’s really about.

If not, it looks set to be another expensive mistake of the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era.