The word from Manchester United in early February was the process regarding Mason Greenwood's future would take a matter of weeks, not months. Here we are, three months later, and United are yet to conclude said process.
With United's season due to end in under four weeks, delivering a verdict on Greenwood within that timeframe is the last thing they need. The team is wobbling in the Premier League, the most eagerly-anticipated FA Cup final in living memory is on the horizon and new ownership could be confirmed imminently.
Everyone has their opinion on Greenwood and many will reserve it until United eventually draw a line under the matter. Squad planning has to proceed on the assumption United will be without a forward who last played for the club 473 days ago.
Also read: United preparing for Amad's return to squad
United at least have two right-footed left-footers in their squad for next season. The club invested £122.51million in transfer fees on Antony and Amad, two talents with 61 top-flight appearances between them prior to their deadline day moves. It is the rawer Amad who has eased into his first full season in English football.
Amad has at least two more games to play on loan at Sunderland, in the Championship play-offs against Luton Town, but United have already made plans for his return before the end of the season. An FA Cup final suit has been reserved for Amad. He may be at Wembley in the Sunderland kit the previous week, should they reach the play-off final against Middlesbrough or Coventry.
Whether Amad's season ends in Luton or London, he has put teams to the sword in a cutthroat league. Amad has scored 13 Championship goals, created another three and he was named Sunderland's young player of the season.
Championship credentials are no guarantee of a squad status back at United. James Garner, one of the few sellable assets United had last summer, was sold as income was prioritised over encrusting a diamond United had polished for several years.
Garner has acquitted himself impressively in the Everton midfield of late, starting in four of their last five games and keeping the £30m summer addition Amadou Onana on the bench. Like Amad, he has benefited from a managerial change in-season.
Succinctly dubbed "a player" by Jose Mourinho, staff at Everton have found Garner to be terrific to deal with. It remains a wrench for many United supporters, especially those who watched Garner as the linchpin of the youth teams, that the 22-year-old was jettisoned with the average age of the midfield north of 30.
Dean Henderson also earned promotion from the Championship as a loanee with Sheffield United and his time in the sun may come amid doubts over David de Gea's No.1 status beyond this season. But that initial succession plan was botched by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Henderson, like Garner, is a sellable asset. Henderson's future has been complicated by thigh surgery that could sideline him until early August.
By then, Amad should be recovering from jet-lag after United's four-game pre-season tour of the United States. United are due to play two friendlies in Oslo and Edinburgh before they fly to New York on July 19 and there could be a seventh friendly, pending United's possible participation in the Community Shield, with Dublin touted as a potential destination.
In a summer where a striker is United's priority, followed by a midfielder, with interest in the right-back Jeremie Frimpong, a centre half likely to be required and a goalkeeping addition possible, the right-hand side is not as prominent on United's priority list as in recent summers.
Ten Hag has not been short of game-changers to call upon but all are left-sided forwards. Facundo Pellistri, signed on the same day as Amad, has performed commendably in his cameos from the right yet has been restricted to 118 minutes off the bench.
Alejandro Garnacho's return to the squad at West Ham was at the expense of Pellistri, pencilled in for a loan next season. So is Anthony Elanga, although United would be receptive to a sale if an acceptable offer is submitted for a winger without a club goal since February 22 last year.
A squad induction for Amad is logical after coming through the rigours of the Championship with one of its biggest clubs. If there was a third series of Sunderland 'Til I Die, Amad would be the chief protagonist, as much a hero as Jack Rodwell was the villain. Amad is Sunderland's highest scorer.
And he may still play at Wembley.
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