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EPL There is no surprise Ruben Amorim wants Manchester United to lock down Amad’s future at Old Trafford. The young Ivory Coast international, whose contract expires at the end of this season (although it includes an optional year the club can trigger), has been a revelation at right wing-back in recent games and one of the early success stories of new head coach Amorim’s tenure. Advertisement Much to the dismay of United fans, Amad began on the bench for what proved a mood-busting 2-0 defeat against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday after Amorim decided to rotate his squad. The 22-year-old was brought on at the start of the second half to try to lift a blunt attack which produced just two shots on target in the entire game, but he struggled to have the same effectiveness as in previous outings, completing just six of 12 passes. However, that was an issue across the whole United team against Arsenal and should not dampen any optimism. After all, it was Amad who helped usher in the Amorim era with a formidable run and pass to assist Marcus Rashford after 81 seconds of his first match in charge against Ipswich Town last month. That move started deep inside the United half when Amad played a give-and-go with Bruno Fernandes. He then showed speed, close control and strength to fly up the wing, past two Ipswich players, before glancing across to see who was in support. When he got to the box he had three options, and picked out Rashford with a cross into the six-yard box. Then came a blockbuster performance against Everton a week later in which Amad ran the show. He assisted Rashford again and also set up Joshua Zirkzee in a 4-0 home win at Old Trafford. In that match, the Ivorian made more progressive carries (six) than any of his team-mates and had more involvements in attacking sequences (also six) than any other player. Amad was the lifeblood of a comfortable victory and held his own defensively too, which will be fundamental to his future success as a wing-back. The grabs below show just one example of his effectiveness in his new position against Everton. With the ball in the centre of the pitch, Amad begins to run forward into space. When he receives the ball, he shows poise to not rush it even as opposition defenders James Tarkowski and Vitalii Mykolenko recover. Instead, he plays a perfectly weighted pass to Rashford, who scores. By this point in the game, he had already proven himself more than a handful for Everton. He was also vital in the build-up to the first of Zirkzee’s two goals on the day when pressing Abdoulaye Doucoure and then Jarrad Branthwaite while out of possession. When he let Fernandes take over, Amad still got himself into a good position in the box as Zirkzee finished. For the final goal, Zirkzee’s second, Amad was the first player breaking forward out of the United penalty area when Casemiro cleared the ball. He battled past Mykolenko, lost possession, but then regained it again. He did not give up when the opportunity looked lost and instead preyed on Tarkowski, who was flummoxed when Amad took the ball from him moments before calmly setting up Zirkzee. His calmness, combined with creative ingenuity and relentless energy, has been a great source of joy for United fans recently, which is why they are so keen for the club to get Amad tied down to another deal — as is his new head coach. “I think he wants to stay and we want him to stay, so that is clear, ” Amorim said earlier in the week. “We will find a solution. ” Advertisement Amad joined United in January 2021 from Italian side Atalanta and made eight senior appearances in the latter half of the 2021-22 season. The following January, he was loaned to Scotland’s Rangers to help with his development, but the move did not go to plan as he played just 10 times in five months. During the 2022-23 season, he was loaned to Sunderland of the second-tier Championship and was named their young player of the season after scoring 14 goals and completing four assists in his 42 games. Sunderland reached the play-offs but missed out on a place in the final at Wembley after a 3-2 aggregate defeat to eventually promoted Luton Town. Amad came back to Manchester with a spring in his step but then suffered an injury at the start of the 2023-24 and was starved of playing time under Erik ten Hag, United’s manager at the time. A last-minute winner against Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter-finals in March endeared him to the fans, but he made just nine Premier League appearances last season. Amorim’s arrival from Lisbon’s Sporting CP as Ten Hag’s replacement has brought renewed hope, and Amad is so far proving himself adept at the wing-back role the Portuguese is deploying him in. “Because of his left foot, ” Amorim said. “It’s sometimes in that position, the way he receives the ball, if you are right-footed, sometimes you don’t have the space to come inside. “But we have, for example, (Noussair) Mazraoui and (Diogo) Dalot who can go inside because they are fast and strong with the ball. But we chose Amad to have one against one outside. And that is very important to break some pressures, and especially high pressures, and he has that ability. “And then in that position, you need to have a good physicality. Good physicality is not the size (Amad is 5ft 8in/173cm), but he can run, and that is a key point in that position. So you try to choose players that you can put in that position and then the technical characteristics is perfect for him. ” Advertisement Amorim thinks Amad can play the No 10 role as well. “I think it’s one of the great advantages of Amad, for me. He’s very good playing in that position but also playing between the lines because he has good control and he seems faster with the ball than without the ball. So it’s something that he has and he is capable of playing in both positions. And he can play in different systems. In the future, we will play in the different system, maybe. So it’s that kind of player that we need in the team. ” Ruud van Nistelrooy, now the new manager of fellow Premier League side Leicester City, also praised Amad during his short time as United interim boss following Ten Hag’s sacking in late October. “Every day after training he comes to me and wants to do extra finishing, extra crossing, ‘How can I improve my heading? ’, ” Van Nistelrooy said. “He’s constantly focused on learning and getting better, living in a professional way and he’s very motivated to get the best out of his career. ” With Van Nistelrooy in charge of the Premier League game against Leicester on November 10, Amad was the first United player to push forward after Rasmus Hojlund cleared the ball up the pitch following a corner by the visitors. Amad pressured Leicester defender Victor Kristiansen off the ball before winning a throw-in on the left side of the pitch. From that throw, he linked up with Fernandes ahead of the United captain’s goal to open the scoring in a 3-0 victory, with Amad making a backheel assist. That move highlighted his flair. It also showed he can get United’s attack on the front foot. As a wing-back, he can make them thrive. GO DEEPER Amorim has started to ring the changes at United - his first defeat won't deter him (Top photo: Joe Prior/Visionhaus via Getty Images) Get all-access to exclusive stories. Subscribe to The Athletic for in-depth coverage of your favorite players, teams, leagues and clubs. Try a week on us. Caoimhe O'Neill is a Staff Writer for The Athletic who spent her first three years here covering Liverpool's men's, women's and academy teams. Since moving to London in summer 2023, Caoimhe now covers the Premier League and Women's Super League more broadly. Before joining The Athletic, the University of Liverpool graduate worked as a Senior Football Writer at the Liverpool Echo. Follow Caoimhe on Twitter @Caoimhe Sport