Manchester United are close to officially completing the signing of Amad Diallo. And reports claim he’s already been called ‘kid’ by Paul Pogba ahead of his move to the club. The 18-year-old has sparkled at youth level and is poised to become a member of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s squad later this month.
United announced they’d agreed a fee with Atalanta for Diallo back in the summer, saying: “Manchester United have reached an agreement with Atalanta for the future transfer of Amad Diallo, one of the most exciting young prospects in Italian football.
“The 18-year-old Ivorian right-winger has been on the radar of United scouts since 2016, when he was spotted playing at Under-15 level, and the club have been tracking his progress since.
“Diallo scored on his Serie A debut in the first of three first-team appearances last season, after rising through the youth ranks at Atalanta.
“He will join United at a later date, subject to medical, personal terms and work permit.”
Diallo has jetted out to England ahead of his move to United.
He’s poised to officially be unveiled at some point later this month, despite Atalanta trying to keep him on loan.
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And The Sun say that, when he moved to the club, Pogba sent him a message saying ‘welcome kid’.
At nine years Pogba’s junior, it’s certainly an understandable nickname.
And United are hopeful Diallo can be a huge Old Trafford hit, viewing his arrival as a significant coup and the end product of years of extensive scouting.
The Atalanta star is eagerly anticipating his move to United and, despite the Serie A giants’ desire for him to stay for a little longer, that seems unlikely.
Solskjaer said he couldn’t foresee any issues regarding Diallo moving, saying: “Amad, we've had all the paperwork, I can't see any obstacles.
“We hope very soon he will be with us. We are very excited to have him in. He'll need time to develop.”
"Apart from that I'm not thinking too much about January."
Solskjaer also recently outlined a desire to help Diallo settle into life in England before unleashing him on Premier League defences.
"We felt Facundo [Pellistri] would benefit [from time in the Under-23s],” he said.
"He started training with the first-team – he did well but we couldn’t give him game-time so we thought we’d give him a run of games in the [Under] 23s and he’s benefited from that.
"His confidence has been given a boost. He’s shown in all the games that he can impact the game.
"With Amad, hopefully we can get him in and we’ll see how the squad looks and how he looks and how he settles as soon as possible.