Amad Diallo | Rangers loan watch

[elnorte]

How about playing for his country? Is that substandard??

Current Swedish national side not much of a bar for quality. But the you already knew that.

 

[Champ]

Current Swedish national side not much of a bar for quality. But the you already knew that.

Ahead of the Ivory Coast by a long long way...19th in the world as per FIFA rankings.
But then you already knew that.

 

[elnorte]

Ahead of the Ivory Coast by a long long way...19th in the world as per FIFA rankings.
But then you already knew that.

Ah, my apologies. I wasn't being clear. I think Diallo is shite too. But to be fair, being ahead of the Ivory Coast isn't saying much and being 19th in a rather questionable rankings system isn't either.

 

[UnitedFire]

I have never doubted Amads ability.

He isn't ready yet, and is a long way off. That cannot be disputed.

He may be a great signing, but anyone trying to claim he is better than Elanga right now is quite frankly talking crap.

It's barely worth an argument.

There isn't much between them in my opinion. Both capable of different types of moments. The difference for me is I don't see where Elanga's development comes from. I've not seen anything stand out about him.

Amad on the other hand has real skill and invention and a bit of polish could see him adding real value.

Both have their uses. Elanga is an athletic cover for Rashford, which is helpful in counter attacking games. I think Amad has that Mata type invention about him, I.e. Can show something against tighter defences. I've seen some very nice crossing and passes over the top from him, but also the skill to beat a man, something Mata doesn't have.

Ruling Amad out after less than 2 games worth of minutes for Rangers of which he already has one goal seems a little hasty.

 

[Spaghetti]

So Instead we'll give minutes to Amad, a player who can't get minutes at Rangers?

Bingo! Something that might be good rather than something that definitely isn’t good.

If your car doesn’t start, you don’t just keep trying the ignition.

 

[Champ]

It's barely worth an argument.

There isn't much between them in my opinion. Both capable of different types of moments. The difference for me is I don't see where Elanga's development comes from. I've not seen anything stand out about him.

Amad on the other hand has real skill and invention and a bit of polish could see him adding real value.

Both have their uses. Elanga is an athletic cover for Rashford, which is helpful in counter attacking games. I think Amad has that Mata type invention about him, I.e. Can show something against tighter defences. I've seen some very nice crossing and passes over the top from him, but also the skill to beat a man, something Mata doesn't have.

Ruling Amad out after less than 2 games worth of minutes for Rangers of which he already has one goal seems a little hasty.

In the bolded part I can definitely agree with.
I feel United fans have a habit of belittling good young players because they don't achieve straight away.

Amad seems to have the teflon ability to shrug off bad games, whereas Elanga seems to have to run through brick walls to get any resemblance of praise on here.
Amad will and could be useful if he progresses, Elanga already is useful.

 

[UnitedFire]

Really.

This all we got.

If Amad cannot even get into the match day 11 at Rangers yet alone United then that says a lot more surely?

Loan deals regularly don't work out. Loan clubs often see loanees as cover and I do think Amad is naturally going to try to do too much, which quickly results in him being deprioritised.

Will be interesting to see how he develops. Could be one who thrives in a less physical league like Spain, but I hope he can find himself in the Premier League.

 

[UnitedFire]

In the bolded part I can definitely agree with.
I feel United fans have a habit of belittling good young players because they don't achieve straight away.

Amad seems to have the teflon ability to shrug off bad games, whereas Elanga seems to have to run through brick walls to get any resemblance of praise on here.
Amad will and could be useful if he progresses, Elanga already is useful.

Dan James was useful.... Do you think he was good enough?

For me Elanga isn't even as good as Dan James. I just haven't seen anything exceptional.

Maybe I'm not seeing something that you are?

 

[Champ]

Dan James was useful.... Do you think he was good enough?

For me Elanga isn't even as good as Dan James. I just haven't seen anything exceptional.

Maybe I'm not seeing something that you are?

Yup you are.

Footballing intelligence.

I'm a massive fan of Dan James, and he has his uses. Elanga is head and shoulders above Dan James.
It's such a poor comparison.

 

[Champ]

Loan deals regularly don't work out. Loan clubs often see loanees as cover and I do think Amad is naturally going to try to do too much, which quickly results in him being deprioritised.

Will be interesting to see how he develops. Could be one who thrives in a less physical league like Spain, but I hope he can find himself in the Premier League.

You make sense there,
I am with you hoping he can make it at premiership level, especially with United.

 

[RedDevilCanuck]

Nobody knows anything about him. He never plays. At least Facundo has some recent Uruguay pedigree.

From what I've seen he has some talent but if Rangers need a goal and would rather bring on Arfield, wow.

Maybe it's his attitude? If so, feck him. We have 90% of a team with shit attitude.

 

[UnitedFire]

You make sense there,
I am with you hoping he can make it at premiership level, especially with United.

A huge part of him making it is us playing dramatically better football.

More quick passing and interchange. We don't need to and shouldn't try to copy City, but City have comparable players height wise to Diallo and make it work from great passing.

Diallo is 173cm, 5ft 8

Sterling is 170cm
Foden is 171cm
Silva is 173cm
Jesus is 175cm
Grealish is 175cm

Liverpool is probably a better aspiration. We are so far off the quality passing of City, but Liverpool have good balance of passing and speed.

Comparable height players at Liverpool are
Harvey Elliot 170cm
Keita 172cm, but very different position
Minamino 174cm
Alacantra 174cm
Salah 175cm
Mane 175cm
Milner 175cm
Trent 175cm

Liverpool have a real mix of players at similar heights all across the pitch. And within that are some very different physiques as well.

Plenty to suggest across that group that Amad can find a way without height being an issue.

 

[UnitedFire]

Nobody knows anything about him. He never plays. At least Facundo has some recent Uruguay pedigree.

From what I've seen he has some talent but if Rangers need a goal and would rather bring on Arfield, wow.

Maybe it's his attitude? If so, feck him. We have 90% of a team with shit attitude.

Maybe it's just that players like Amad and similar to DVB just need to be in solid technical teams to thrive and Rangers have realised they can't get the passing speed and interchange to open up the desired opportunities for Amad to thrive

 

[Lash]

This thread is a car crash, why are we talking about Elanga so much in it? Why are people so adamant about Diallo's ability at a level he's hardly played at?

He needs to try and get in the Rangers side until the end of the season and then take what he's learnt from that experience to pre-season with the new manager. I don't think anyone has any idea what level Diallo should be playing at right now. There's just feck all we're privy to to make that judgement.

 

[Idxomer]

Or rather GVB played him for the first few games, then gave him a chance against Celtic and realised he wasn't quite up to it, and so didn't trust him after that.

I've watched that game, there wasn't any Rangers player up for it that night.

 

[Gandalf]

I've watched that game, there wasn't any Rangers player up for it that night.

True. It appears the specific reason Amad has been exiled since that performance is that he did not track back or offer anything defensively when the team was struggling whilst some of the other poor performers at least made a show of doing their jobs. In the weeks since that game Rangers have seemingly tweaked the way they are using their wide players in games and Amad is just not a fit with what they are doing, it is a poor loan but hard to blame anyone as it looked great on paper and Gio seemed to be very enthused about working with him. For next season a much better loan plan needs to be put in place, I doubt he would get the minutes on the pitch by sticking around as a backup at Old Trafford and rather like Garner and others he would benefit most of all by being a regular starter somewhere and learning his craft with regular mens football. Hopefully the input of a new manager and the changes behind the scenes will allow us to get a better return on our loan players next season.

 

[Adnan]

It's not a surprise to see Solskjaer and Rangnick favour Elanga over Diallo. And I say that because neither Solskjaer and Rangnick place much emphasis on building play through central areas and instead place heavy emphasis on winning the ball back quickly to then proceed towards the opponents goal with a minimal amount of passes in a vertical axis.

So I can see why the aforementioned would favour Elanga who is physically and athletically more capable than Diallo right now when it comes to applying pressure and fitting into a approach that looks to bypass the midfield. And it shouldn't be a surprise to anyone that we've seen high energy midfielders like the McFred duo start in tandem under Mourinho, Ole and Rangnick, because none of the three managers attempt to control the game in possession and instead to look to either counter attack in a low/mid block (Mourinho, Ole) or in Rangnick's case, he wants to force turn overs high up the pitch to force a quick counter attack by applying high pressure in a compact high block. Pochettino also falls into the same category as Rangnick with a heavy emphasis on counter pressing, hence high energy midfielders like Wanyama and Sissoko were utilised to win the ball back quickly rather than to help control the game in possession.

Amad from what I've seen has the technical ability in abundance to potentially succeed. But it will come down to attitude and application, and if he's driven to succeed then he will overcome the barriers that a young player has to come up against.

It was a pity the loan to Feyenoord fell through because under their head coach Arne Slot, I feel we possibly would've seen Amad better develop in a environment which appreciates the more technical player due to Arne Slot being a coach who adopts the positional play principles and hence his primary focus is to set his team up to control the game with the ball by controlling the 5 horizontal spaces (half space x2, centre space, wide space x2) to create positional and numerical superiority. And in such a approach the more technical players are required and the structure for the more technical player is also created for them to thrive.

 

[NK86]

Elanga appears to be part of the first team and bar the odd game, playing well, so I'd wager what your saying is incorrect.

That's what i am saying. Elanga playing for us shows our state than his ability. Jonjo Shelvey once played for Liverpool. That again showed their status as a team at that time. He won't come anywhere near that team now, similar to how Elanga wouldn't be anywhere near ours if we were a team fighting for the top honours, like we should aim to be.

 

[Champ]

That's what i am saying. Elanga playing for us shows our state than his ability. Jonjo Shelvey once played for Liverpool. That again showed their status as a team at that time. He won't come anywhere near that team now, similar to how Elanga wouldn't be anywhere near ours if we were a team fighting for the top honours, like we should aim to be.

And Amad in out on loan, so can't get anywhere near our team.
What's your point in this?

 

[NK86]

And Amad in out on loan, so can't get anywhere near our team.
What's your point in this?

The point is neither are good enough yet (and may never be). But I will let it rest here. It's like I have to repeat myself every post even though point is pretty clear.

 

[Champ]

The point is neither are good enough yet (and may never be). But I will let it rest here. It's like I have to repeat myself every post even though point is pretty clear.

Your point is muddied and lacks clarity - you suggest that Elanga isn't good enough but also state that maybe he is in the squad because that's the level the team is at, which surely then suggests that he is good enough? Which is it?

Its clear to all that Elanga is further along in terms of progression than Amad right now, and that's the reason he is in the squad and Amad is struggling for minutes at Rangers.

 

[NK86]

Your point is muddied and lacks clarity - you suggest that Elanga isn't good enough but also state that maybe he is in the squad because that's the level the team is at, which surely then suggests that he is good enough? Which is it?

Its clear to all that Elanga is further along in terms of progression than Amad right now, and that's the reason he is in the squad and Amad is struggling for minutes at Rangers.

You are unable to grasp a simple point, aren't you? For what we aspire to be, Elanga is not good enough. If we want to just be a top 6-7 team who never challenge for the title, Elanga may still be an okish squad player to have.

If you still cannot get your head around it, then so be it.

 

[Champ]

You are unable to grasp a simple point, aren't you? For what we aspire to be, Elanga is not good enough. If we want to just be a top 6-7 team who never challenge for the title, Elanga may still be an okish squad player to have.

If you still cannot get your head around it, then so be it.

We are a top 6/7 side though.

What we aspire to be has no reference on what is happening right now. Also you are assuming that Elanga will not improve with the more experience he gets, which is entirely feasible to think.

My point is if Elanga in your eyes is only good enough for a top 6/7 team, what does that make Amad right now considering he was sent out on loan and cannot get a game in a lesser league? A fair point I think,

 

[JohnnyKills]

It's barely worth an argument.

There isn't much between them in my opinion. Both capable of different types of moments. The difference for me is I don't see where Elanga's development comes from. I've not seen anything stand out about him.

Amad on the other hand has real skill and invention and a bit of polish could see him adding real value.

Both have their uses. Elanga is an athletic cover for Rashford, which is helpful in counter attacking games. I think Amad has that Mata type invention about him, I.e. Can show something against tighter defences. I've seen some very nice crossing and passes over the top from him, but also the skill to beat a man, something Mata doesn't have.

Ruling Amad out after less than 2 games worth of minutes for Rangers of which he already has one goal seems a little hasty.

Agree with all this.

Elanga reminds me of Dan James tbh. Rapid but not much technical skill. Will be a great squad option but we're probably seeing the best of him right now.

Amad has a much higher ceiling but needs to bulk up. Lot of work ahead.

Still, way too early to write him off. Worth remembering that Scholes barely got a game for our youth team.

 

[JohnnyKills]

A huge part of him making it is us playing dramatically better football.

More quick passing and interchange. We don't need to and shouldn't try to copy City, but City have comparable players height wise to Diallo and make it work from great passing.

Diallo is 173cm, 5ft 8

Sterling is 170cm
Foden is 171cm
Silva is 173cm
Jesus is 175cm
Grealish is 175cm

Liverpool is probably a better aspiration. We are so far off the quality passing of City, but Liverpool have good balance of passing and speed.

Comparable height players at Liverpool are
Harvey Elliot 170cm
Keita 172cm, but very different position
Minamino 174cm
Alacantra 174cm
Salah 175cm
Mane 175cm
Milner 175cm
Trent 175cm

Liverpool have a real mix of players at similar heights all across the pitch. And within that are some very different physiques as well.

Plenty to suggest across that group that Amad can find a way without height being an issue.

5'8 is no problem for a winger. He just needs to pack some muscle on and get used to the physicality.

 

[elnorte]

Elanga is an athletic cover for Rashford,

Sums up the dire state of things.

 

[TwoSheds]

Agree with all this.

Elanga reminds me of Dan James tbh. Rapid but not much technical skill. Will be a great squad option but we're probably seeing the best of him right now.

Amad has a much higher ceiling but needs to bulk up. Lot of work ahead.

Still, way too early to write him off. Worth remembering that Scholes barely got a game for our youth team.

In 94/95 Scholes was only around 4 months older than Diallo's current season when he played 22 games and got 5 goals and 2 assists for Manchester United. Ok let's give Diallo the benefit of the doubt because a July birthday Vs a November birthday can have a big effect in professional sport but there can be no doubt that next season will be at least equivalent to Scholes' 94/95 season so he's a lot of work to do between now and then to show he's at the level.

 

[Hoof the ball]

Diallo didn't play much in U21's, but his output in those games should argue for his potential. 3 games, 4 goals, 3 assists.
Elanga played 16 games in the U21's. 16 games, 9 goals, 3 assists.

It's telling that Amad equalled Elanga's assist record in just 3 games. It's also telling that Amad was only five goals shy of Elanga's scoring record, with 13 fewer games.

Elanga is a better current fit for Rangnick precisely because of his physical advantages and positive work ethic. But if we're talking stone cold talent? Amad, 100%.

 

[JohnnyKills]

In 94/95 Scholes was only around 4 months older than Diallo's current season when he played 22 games and got 5 goals and 2 assists for Manchester United. Ok let's give Diallo the benefit of the doubt because a July birthday Vs a November birthday can have a big effect in professional sport but there can be no doubt that next season will be at least equivalent to Scholes' 94/95 season so he's a lot of work to do between now and then to show he's at the level.

Yeah my point was that players develop at different rates and smaller ones can take longer.

 

[UNITED ACADEMY]

The reason why Elanga is in the first team squad now above Amad in pecking order is because the work ethic Elanga produced to reach it. Remember how Elanga worked very hard before pre season even started to transform his body into much more suitable for PL? I think Amad needs to do the same before the pre season of next season. Amad is technically much better than Elanga and Dan James but physically and fitness to play in the top level men’s team is probably still far from being considered to start like Elanga. I don’t know what happened behind the scene but if I have to differentiate between him and Elanga why one doesn’t start while the other one starts then it has to be start from the fact that Elanga put lot of works to improve his physique and fitness before the pre season.

 

[Red the Bear]

Heard rangers don't want him, not looking good.

 

[TwoSheds]

Diallo didn't play much in U21's, but his output in those games should argue for his potential. 3 games, 4 goals, 3 assists.
Elanga played 16 games in the U21's. 16 games, 9 goals, 3 assists.

It's telling that Amad equalled Elanga's assist record in just 3 games. It's also telling that Amad was only five goals shy of Elanga's scoring record, with 13 fewer games.

Elanga is a better current fit for Rangnick precisely because of his physical advantages and positive work ethic. But if we're talking stone cold talent? Amad, 100%.

It's a sample size of 3 games. And it's also a bit irrelevant considering the step up required between those games and the first team. McTominay became a first team player and Ravel didn't. Ultimately attitude and fitness record has as much or more to do with it as pure talent.

 

[Champ]

Heard rangers don't want him, not looking good.

Yup, looking likely he will be out in loan again next season from what I hear too.

Going to be a waiting game with Amad for sure.

 

[elnorte]

Yup, looking likely he will be out in loan again next season from what I hear too.

Going to be a waiting game with Amad for sure.

The waiting game being us holding off as long as possible before finally selling him for an embarrassing loss.

 

[lefty_jakobz]

Same things being said about Diallo are the same things that were said about Sancho Fred Dialot etc….fans are just too quick to judge the BOY is 18/19 ffs give him some time before righting him off!

 

[elnorte]

Same things being said about Diallo are the same things that were said about Sancho Fred Dialot etc….fans are just too quick to judge the BOY is 18/19 ffs give him some time before righting him off!

Yep. Those other three are shite too.

 

[Stacks]

to be honest when you look at the games when he has played and you compare him to other 18-20 year olds, is he anything special?
Utd have had 18-20 year olds starting in the first team in the past and thats where he should be if he has anything about him, after the hype he was like Messi. I dont see a place for him at OT and like Pellestri, feck knows why they were bought. Was there any scouting involved, or just recommendations, like Bebe? Panic buys just to justify a spend after we didnt get Sancho.

How I feel. People often say "for his age" but many his age are far ahead so it doesn't make him look that promising.

The obsession with this guy is something else, but very much symptomatic of the weird online dwelling football fan which is so omnipresent nowadays.

How is it possible to claim this lad is “exceptional” or 10 x the player Elanga is when he’s had 20 senior appearances in his entire career?

I’m sorry to say it but whenever a loan doesn’t work out like this it hardly ever ends with the player in question making it at the highest level, and why would it? If he was good enough, Rangers would be starting him every game.

Yeah. I have tempered all expectations. I don't get why he has any hype whatsoever. Normally players his age are tearing it up in a league somewhere or have burst on the scene for the big clubs to want to invest and in the years since he has moved he has done very little and has hardly any starts.

It’s worth noting that he’s never got much minutes anywhere at all at Atalanta, Utd (under two coaches i think but might be wrong), and Rangers. And wasn’t he not selected for the African cup of nations? I’m genuinely surprised at the amount of posters who think so much of their own opinions that despite multiple actual professional coaches choosing not to use him, that it is the managers, rather than the posters who are wrong. It kind of strikes me as being similar to those people who refused to take advice during the Covid pandemic, genuinely believing that they saw a truth that professional epidemiologists missed. He might turn out to be the greatest player since Messi but guys, if he’s repeatedly not being picked by multiple managers then surely there’s a reason that you all aren’t seeing.

He is a completely unproven player but has a wishful cult following because Juve were interested so maybe players are hoping that we stole one ahead of them

 

[pascell]

Same things being said about Diallo are the same things that were said about Sancho Fred Dialot etc….fans are just too quick to judge the BOY is 18/19 ffs give him some time before righting him off!

Dalot and Fred are sub standard at best so your point is invalid.

 

[lefty_jakobz]

Dalot and Fred are sub standard at best so your point is invalid.

My point is the boy hasn't had much of a chance and he's already been written off by all the professional coaches on this thread.

 

[SNes]

.