Tony Mowbray effusive about Amad impact and progress during loan at Sunderland

Mowbray revealed that he has regular chats with his former Middlesbrough central defensive partner Gary Pallister and they chat about how Amad is faring and what he can potentially bring to the United side in the future.

As somebody who has worked wonders with youngsters during his managerial career, the 59-year-old clearly takes pride in the way he can handle fledgling footballers trying to make their way at the top level.

“Listen, I think it’s amazing Sunderland have got such talented footballers,” he said. “For Amad, the ball is so easy. I was manager of Blackburn Rovers for five-and-a-half years and I took a lot of players from Liverpool, Manchester City, the north-west clubs around us really. I’m trying to think but Harvey Elliott was the last one and he’s doing okay for himself now but I personally like talents, I like good footballers, where the ball is easy for them.

“It’s not enough to be a footballer, of course, you have to have character, personality, resilience to bounce back from bad days, be brave. If you’re a top footballer, though, you have to be comfortable with the ball, take it in tight areas and Amad can undoubtedly do that. I encourage the team to give him the ball as often as possible and, generally, he makes really good decisions. He knows when to pop it off and when to dribble. He has got a left foot where the ball seems stuck to it sometimes.

“And we try to bring his personality out so that he can interact with the other players. He’s developed a really tight relationship with Patrick Roberts and they’re both wonderful technicians. They’ve both got good left feet and generally, in the game, left-footed players seem to be a little bit more confident and smooth-looking don’t they, left-footers? Probably because it’s the only foot they ever kick it with!

“I’m more than happy to have the talent we’ve got in the squad and I think Amad fits into it. A lot of our goals this year have come down the right-hand side, when Amad is playing like a no.10 on that side with Roberts really wide. The way they link and play each other in, dribble or stick the ball in behind and cut it back to each other. I am sure there are lots of goals as examples you can find with Amad and Patrick interacting with each other. So, yeah, I’m just happy he’s our player.

“The other important thing worth mentioning is how robust he has been. So many games, I know Manchester United are playing a massive amount of games, every three days of course, but we had a five-week spell where it was literally every three days and the robustness of the boy to keep playing, to start every game. I very rarely bring him off, I think I’ve only brought him off once in a game. Considering he played so little football over 90 minutes for any team really.

“We’re delighted he’s here. I hope he’s progressing, I hope Manchester United see the development of him, just playing football. I know Gary Pallister very well and I sit with Pally sometimes and we have a coffee and I say to him the football club shouldn’t worry about the boy with the ball. I say worry, I’m sure they don’t as they paid a few quid for him and know what they’ve bought.

“If he’s got the right personality and only time will tell when he is among the star players at United, whether he can integrate and become part of what they want to do because they shouldn’t fear he is going to lose the ball too often or give the ball way or make bad decisions. At this level, he is a maestro with the ball. If feels for me, at United, he would integrate with those high-quality footballers and they wouldn’t have any problem lending him the ball, as you might say in football, as sometimes you give the ball to somebody knowing he’ll give it to you back or slip you in to score. The ball is not a problem for him, whatever he does with it.”