[Amad Diallo Traoré - a thread]

Manchester United have reached an agreement with Atalanta for the future transfer of Amad Diallo. The transfer will go through in January. I have watched seven of his games at Youth level, his 30 minutes at professional level, and most highlights I could find on Youtube.

Scouting at youth level is different from scouting at a professional one. Ralf Rangnick, former Red Bull’s sporting director was asked about how to anticipate the progression of a great footballer at a young age. He said the following words:

‘’Speed, pace, acceleration, they are important but the most important thing is to think fast. You should only value them for the decisions they make under pressure, in moments of the game when there is no time or space to act. Beautiful goals and dribbles can confuse you.’’

Overview of this thread:

• Style of play
• Strengths
• Weaknesses
• His fit at United

You can see Traoré’s heatmap below. The Ivorian winger likes to hug the touchline but he understands how to perform rotations with his right-back to receive in the halfspace or even drop deeper to help his team progress the ball.

His first step is quick and he uses it to great effect when he dribbles. His dribbling is almost perfect, he can go either inside or outside at will. He completes 5.3 dribbles per 90 minutes and attempts around 10 dribbles per 90.

He has a good interplay and his intelligence is noticeable. His ability to find pockets of space is remarkable as he thinks fast. He can make quick decisions. In the video below, he lets the ball go to his teammate, which results in a goal.

Another GIF about his interplay is shown below. This time, it’s against a Serie A side. You can also see his ability to get away from his opponent to have more time to receive and make a decision.

His willingness to run from wide areas is essential to provide depth, consequently drawing deeper the opponent’s defensive block. His general movement is great when he spots space, it can definitely be sustainable.

He also has a good weak foot, he can either shoot or pass the ball with his right. The GIF I showed above shows he could deliver accurate low crosses with his right.

When we look at his strengths, we can see that everything Ragnick said we should look into a youth player is there. Traoré is quick but can also think quick. He is good in tight spaces and can get away out of pressure pretty easily.

About his weaknesses, his decision-making isn’t necessarily an area of concern as I said earlier but there are situations where he will take better decisions with experience.

In the GIF below, you can see that Traoré could definitely play the 1v1 but instead decides to pass it to... nobody. This is something he will improve with experience but I thought I would point it out.

He wants the ball at feet too much when the opponent is in its settled shape. He neglects what he could do when he doesn’t have the ball to create space and dynamism, especially when he is in the halfspace. This is something he has to improve.

In the GIF below, he stands there before receiving which leads him to take a heavy touch, something that wouldn’t have happened if he was in movement.

He is weak physically, not ready to play Premier League football as a starter in my opinion. He needs to play to develop though and a loan move to a top five leagues would be perfect for him.

Amad Diallo Traoré is extremely similar to Mahrez in his style of play. Mahrez is the perfect profile to pair with Aaron Wan-Bissaka in my opinion. He holds the width and would put less offensive burden on Wan-Bissaka’s shoulder.

About Traoré, his speed and willingness to make runs into depth from wide areas would also be useful as I feel it’s something United desperately lack off the right side.

Before the end of this thread, here are stats from Traoré at Youth level.

Traoré is definitely one to keep an eye on and I would favor a loan move for his development.

End of thread. Likes and RTs appreciated.