Amad Diallo earns Man United star comparison from Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray | OneFootball

Following a relatively unproductive loan spell at Rangers last time out, promoted Championship club Sunderland was the next challenge for rising Manchester United star Amad Diallo.

The 20-year-old has featured 29 times for the Black Cats in the second-tier this season, with 20 of these appearances coming in the form of starts.

During that time, Diallo has managed nine league goals and two assists, whilst he has managed a further assist in an FA Cup victory over Shrewsbury Town in early January.

With eight games of this Championship campaign left to play, the Wearside club are seven points from the play-off places and will be striving to close the gap and upset the current top-six occupiers during the closing stages of the campaign.

Diallo will be hoping to be a big part of that after rescuing a point against high-flying Luton Town last week, when he won a penalty, and then converted it.

Speaking to MUTV (as cited by Mail Online) about the exciting winger, who has played more centrally for the Black Cats, Sunderland boss Tony Mowbray said: "I think he can play centre-midfield for us in the Championship, you know.

"Just give him the ball and he very rarely loses it. Yet we generally put [Patrick] Roberts really wide and play Amad just inside him.

"We've had huge success down the right-hand side of the pitch with those two linking and playing with each other, people running off the back of the two of them and sliding people in. It's very profitable for us. He is versatile.

"I see United games, I watch a lot of football, and Bruno [Fernandes] plays a bit of everywhere, off the right sometimes, inside as a 10 or as a running 8, he can play deep and link the midfield up. Amad is a similar type of footballer."

The verdict

Diallo is progressing at an exciting rate and this loan stint at Sunderland will have impressed those at United who have been keeping a close eye on his development.

He is a player that has evident Premier League quality, whilst he has gained a real tactical understanding of the game under Mowbray's stewardship, whilst he has proven to be a versatile option.

This element of versatility has drawn the comparison with Fernandes which is certainly a fair comment, given the different roles the Portuguese midfielder can thrive in.