From Local Legend to Global Sensation: Amad Diallo’s Journey Embodies the Heartbeat of Football. Get Acquainted with the Story of an Ivory Coast Prodigy Whose Footwork and Dedication Have Shattered Boundaries. Witness How Amad Diallo is Redefining Football Excellence and Crafting a Legacy Like No Other
Introduction – Amad Diallo
Amad Diallo is an Ivory Coast based professional footballer. He plays as a winger, which is a midfielder, for EFL Championship club Sunderland. He was taken on loan from Premier League club Manchester United, and the Ivory Coast national team. Amad Diallo currently plays as an attacker for Manchester United in the Premier League and for the Ivory Coast national squad.
Diallo was born in the Ivory Coast and moved to Italy as a child. He joined the Atlanta youth system in 2015, and there he won two Campionato Primavera 1 titles. In 2019, on his debut match he scored for the senior team, which made him the first player born in 2002 to score in Serie A. In January 2021, Diallo joined English club Manchester United; and he was loaned out to Rangers and Sunderland in 2022.
Diallo’s senior international debut was made for the Ivory Coast at the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Childhood – Amad Diallo
Diallo was born in Abidjan, Ivory Coast, to his alleged parents, Hamed Mamadou Traore, and mother, Marina. Amad Diallo is the Diallo or Traore family’s second child. He moved to Italy as a child. He used to introduce himself by the name Amad Traore.
Talking about Amad Diallo’s childhood, it should be mentioned that unfortunately, Amad took birth just a few months before the Ivorian Civil War started in 2002. It is a fact that Amad Diallo is truly a survivor. No child would really have a stable existence in a crisis-stricken area at the moment. Thankfully, Diallo was a normal kid by birth but with a special ability.
It cannot be doubted that his life was messed up with unethical and tragic WAR experiences. His life, on the other hand, reveals that individuals can indeed rise above the clasp of adversity and achieve wonderful achievement.
An important fact about Amad Diallo’s childhood is that the player’s mother has played a very important role in his growth. Marina Traore, like many other mothers of footballers, always supported her sons during their time at Boca Barco. She is already receiving the benefits of her effort.
Marina would not leave her children in the outcome of the Ivorian crisis. Instead of leaving them behind, she looked for a way to get them out of the region, a master stroke that has given Amad’s current football career a proper direction.
In spite of being from a middle-class background, Amad Diallo’s parents were able to collect some money, which they used to fly to Italy. At first the family’s trip to Italy was all good, but it was damaged by problems later on.
An Important fact about Amad Diallo is that in June 2020, the Ivorian footballer and his relatives were arrested for illegal immigration.
Amad Diallo’s dark complexion indicates his African ancestors. He spent part of his childhood growing up in Abidjan’s streets. Amad Diallo’s house was similar to the small houses constructed beside the banks of the Ebrie Lagoon in Ivory Coast at that time. The footballer announced this on social media.
The Ivorian wonder child spent larger part of his childhood in the Italian town of Bibbiano. He liked to spend much of his free time with his elder brother (Hamed Junior Traore) and other kids playing football. Fabrizio Gilioli (a family friend) proposed them to join Boca Barco after watching the duos’ promising potential. This is a small academy in the Italian town of Barco RE.
In 2014, he started his full-time academy career at Boca Barco at the age of 12. The young boy extended his football exposure as he was advanced through the age groups.
Many local football fans were inspired by the teenage winger with his profuse potentials in only four months. Diallo, on the other hand, was the top goal scorer in a competition held in December 2014. After all, he was the competition’s youngest person.
Club Career– Amad Diallo
Atlanta
2015–2020: Youth
Diallo moved to Atlanta in 2015 while a number of Serie A clubs were showing interest in him when he was at Boca Barco. Initially Diallo started out with the under-14s during the 2015–16 season but he quickly moved to the under-15 team. He played in the Final Eight and scored against Roma in the final and helped his side to win the league title.
During the 2016–17 season he played for the under-15 side, there he scored 12 goals in 27 appearances. After that he moved to the under-17s in 2017–18. In 2018–19, 12 goals were scored by Diallo and he also made seven assists in 16 under-17 games, and six goals and six assists were made by him in 26 games in the Campionato Primavera 1, the under-19 championship. He won the 2018–19 season with Atlanta.
In 2019, Diallo won the Supercoppa Primavera, providing both assists in a 2–1 win over Fiorentina. He scored six goals and made six assists in 25 league games and helped Atlanta to win the Campionato Primavera 1 in 2019–20 for a second consecutive season.
2019–2021: Senior
Diallo made his debut in Serie A on 27 October 2019, coming on from the bench on the 79th minute against Udinese; his first goal for Atlanta was scored four minutes later in a 7–1 home win. Diallo became the first player born in 2002 to score in the Italian top flight. He was recruited for UEFA Champions League first time on 11 December 2019, as a new substitute in a 3–0 away win against Shakhtar Donetsk.
Diallo’s first league game in 2020–21 was on 28 November 2020. He played as a 77th-minute substitute against Hellas Verona; Atlanta lost 2–0 at home. Diallo’s Champions League debut was made on 1 December, after being substituted on in the 68th minute against Midtjylland in a 1–1 home draw.
Manchester United
2020–21: Debut season
On 5 October 2020, Manchester United agreed to sign Diallo in January 2021, pending the understanding of individual terms, passing a medical and the issue of a work allow. The detailed expense was of €25 million – €40 million counting bonuses. Diallo officially joined on 7 January 2021, on a five-year contract with the alternative of an additional year.
Diallo scored two goals on his debut for the Under-23s, in a 6–3 win over Liverpool on 30 January. He was first selected for the senior team on 9 February, as an unused substitute in an FA Cup fifth round match against West Ham United. The match ended in a 1–0 Manchester United win after extra time. On 18 February, his first team debut for United was made as a substitute for Mason Greenwood in a 4–0 away win over Real Sociedad in the first leg of the Europa League round of 32 tie. He scored his first goal for United on 11 March, in a 1–1 home draw against AC Milan in the first leg of the Europa League round of 16 tie.
On 13 March, the IFFHS selected Diallo in their 2020 CAF Youth Team of the Year (U20). His FA Cup debut was made on 21 March, where he came on as an 84th-minute substitute in a 3–1 away defeat against Leicester City in the quarter-finals. On 11 May, Diallo’s Premier League debut was made against Leicester City, assisting Mason Greenwood’s goal in a 2–1 defeat; the goal was the first time in 15 years a teenager assisted another for a Premier League goal.
2021–present: Loans to Rangers and Sunderland
Diallo’s first game of the 2021–22 season was played on 8 December 2021, starting the UEFA Champions’ League group stage match against Young Boys.
Scottish Premiership club Rangers took Diallo on loan on 27 January 2022 for the remainder of the 2021–22 season. He made his debut on 29 January and scored the opener of the game as a starter in a 3–3 away draw to Ross County.
Diallo joined Sunderland on 31 August 2022 in the Championship on a season-long loan. He scored his first goal for Sunderland on 22 October, in a 4–2 home defeat to Burnley.
Amad Diallo’s transfer value is estimated to be around €14M.
International career – Amad Diallo
Diallo was first selected to the Ivory Coast national team on 18 March 2021, for their 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches against Niger and Ethiopia on 26 and 30 March, respectively. He made his debut against Niger and came on as an 86th-minute substitute. On 5 June 2021, Diallo scored his first international goal in a friendly match against Burkina Faso, through a 97th-minute free kick, to help his team win 2–1 at home.
On 3 July 2021, Diallo was selected in the Ivory Coast Olympic team for the 2020 Summer Olympics. Diallo’s Olympics debut was made with an assist in a 2–1 win against Saudi Arabia on 22 July.
Style of play – Amad Diallo
A winger who is also capable of playing as a mezzala, Diallo is a speedy and nimble player with excellent technical skill and game awareness. He is a versatile player due to his two-footedness. His agility makes him a dynamic player. Diallo continues to seek out opportunities and would prefer to work for either side. The most prominent aspect of Amad Diallo’s play is that he is a speedy, balanced player who causes all kinds of difficulties for opposing defenders. He demonstrated it by making his first-team debut. If the attacker is mostly a right winger, he can also play across the centre and on the other side.
Net Worth – Amad Diallo
As a professional footballer, he has a net worth of around €10 million as of November 2022, with his current club paying him £1.4 million per year. His market value is €15 million as well.
Controversies – Amad Diallo
The Parma public prosecutor’s office began an inquiry into the trafficking of football players in July 2020. Hamed Mamadou Traore, a distant relative of Amad and Hamed Traore, who was suspected of impersonating their father to help them enter Italy, was one of those implicated. The probe raised issues regarding Amad and Hamed’s friendship.
The athlete changed his Instagram name from “Amad Traore” to “Amad Diallo” on July 11, 2020, the day before turning 18 years old, along with the caption “don’t call me Traore anymore.” His name legally changed to Amad Diallo in September 2020.
On February 9, 2021, Diallo was found guilty of breaking the Italian Sports Justice Code by using the name “Diallo Amad Traore” to sign on with the football team “ASD Boca Barco” in 2015. He was charged with forging paperwork in order to pretend to fake relationship with Hamed Mamadou Traore, an Ivorian national living in Italy, and ask for a family reunion. Diallo asked for a plea deal, and the Federal Prosecutor’s Office levied a €48,000 fine.
Personal life – Amad Diallo
Diallo is Muslim. He received his Italian passport at the end of December 2020. According to the news he is unmarried and don’t have any girlfriend.
