Sunderland's hopes of landing Amad on loan for a second season appear to have been dashed with Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag saying he sees the forward's future at Old Trafford. Ivory Coast international Amad has spent the season on loan with the Black Cats and has been one of the stand-out players in the Championship, scoring 13 goals and helping the club reach the play-offs where they will face Luton Town with the first leg of that semi-final taking place at the Stadium of Light tomorrow.
Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray has said all along that he felt Amad would go back to Manchester United this summer, but he did not definitively rule out the prospect of a return to Wearside for the 20-year-old next season, although he accepted it would be the Red Devils' decision. Ten Hag was asked about Amad today, however, and he said the young talent would be returning to work with his squad next season.
Asked if he saw Amad's future at Manchester United, ten Hag said: "Yes. Of course, we loan such players to make development and make progress to bring them back, that is the aim of the loan.
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"So we are really strong with them, we mentor them, we follow them, we have communication over the season, especially [technical director] Darren Fletcher invests a lot in such processes, the aim is to bring them back but as a better player with experience."
Amad arrived at Old Trafford from Italian club Atalanta on deadline day at the beginning of October 2020, for a fee that could rise as high as £37m. He has only made nine appearances for Manchester United so far and last season spent an unsuccessful loan spell in Scotland with Rangers, but he has been a huge hit this term at Sunderland.
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