Amad's smash-hit loan spell at Sunderland could give the Black Cats a crucial edge as they prepare to bring in a fresh batch of summer recruits, according to Kristjaan Speakman. Manchester United forward Amad spent last season on Wearside and was one of the Championship's brightest stars, turning in a series of fine performances and scoring spectatular goals.
The Ivory Coast international has now returned to Old Trafford and is unlikely to return to Sunderland next season with Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag now keen to see what the 20-year-old can offer to his Premier League squad. But the fact that Sunderland took a talented player who was low on confidence after a disappointing loan at Scottish giants Rangers last season and kick-started his career will make the Black Cats an attractive option both for young players being sent out on loan, or young talents looking for a new club on a permanent basis.
Amad was one of four loan players who spent time at Sunderland, with Ellis Simms recalled from his successful stay by Everton in January as they dealt with a striker crisis, while Paris St-Germain midfielder Edouard Michut impressed during his stay, and Leeds United forward Joe Gelhardt also both played an important part as the Black Cats secured a play-off spot. "When players come on loan, you are relying on them to embrace what is going on," Sunderland's sporting director Speakman told the club's Youtube channel.
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"You don't have a lot of time, you can't look too far into the future, so you do need to see those on-pitch performances. All three of those young players [Amad, Michut, and Gelhardt] have absolutely stepped up to everything we have asked of them - and more.
"Amad's performances in the games - not just with the ball but some of his defensive work, his energy, his pressing - the way he has taken to the supporters, he's absolutely bought in to what we required of him. And he's got a really nice personality which I think hundreds and thousands of Sunderland supporters have taken to.
"We're really proud that we have managed to help his career, too. He came here off the back of the loan move to Glasgow [Rangers] and he himself would say he probably arrived with lower confidence that he is used to, so to be able to build that player back up hopefully bodes well for him, but it also bodes well for us when we are trying to recruit either on loan or with permanent transfers that this is a really good place to come for players, regardless of age."
Speakman also praised Gelhardt's contribution after the frontman returned to Elland Road at the end of the season, and explained why Sunderland have opted not to exercise their option and convert Michut's loan into a permanent stay. He said: "For Joffy [Gelhardt], he has probably been a stand-out in the last few weeks of the season.
"He's played with an injury when I think a lot of players, in his kind of scenario, don't play. To go through what he went through behind the scenes to get himself out on the pitch for Sunderland is a massive mark of respect and it underpins the type of character he is.
"We're probably slightly disappointed for Joffy because we would have liked to have seen him play in a slightly different team shape with some different personnel and maybe we would have seen more out of him. But he was part of that flexible forward line for us that helped contribute a number of goals - I think we were fourth-top scorers in the league, so we were really pleased with his input both in possession and out of possession.
"For young Edou [Michut], that was a slightly different situation. It was a loan with an option for us [to buy] and the natural thing that everybody expects is that the boy has done really, really well, we trigger the option, but for us it had to be the right conditions both from a contractual perspective and also from his perspective.
"We had lots of conversations and Edou is a top young man and I think he will have a really successful career, but when we got down into the detail we weren't as much in alignment as we felt comfortable with and that's why we decided not to proceed with it."
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