Diallo: I’m here to win the lot with the Reds!
AMAD Diallo has made no bones of his desire to win the Premier League and Champions League as a United player.
The former Atalanta winger has arrived as a January signing, though the club agreed an initial £18m transfer for him in October.
Diallo is highly rated around Europe and United believe they have snapped up a serious talent in the Ivorian wide man.
He has only played a handful of senior games for Atalanta but his transfer fee could rise to £37m with the add-ons agreed.
And the 19-year-old believes he can achieve big things at United, naming the Premier League and Champions League as trophies he dreams to win.
He said: “I’m a little bit too anxious to say this given it’s just the start (of my time here) but my dream is to win the Premier League and the Champions League with Manchester United. “That is my aim and goal.” Ole Gunnar Solskjaer revealed United will assess Diallo in training before deciding if he’ll play an immediate role in the first team, or get game time for the Under-23s.
The player was at Carrington for the first time on Wednesday as he looks to settle into life at Old Trafford, and he says he will be asking Paul Pogba and fellow Ivorian Eric Bailly for advice as he sees them as ‘fantastic role models’ to learn from.
“Eric will be a definite reference point for me,” Diallo said. “I’ve actually already been in touch with him over the last few months and we’ve been chatting.
“I’ll be asking him for advice and will be listening to all he says, and also the other players who speak French and Italian like (Paul) Pogba for example, he will be another good reference point for me.”
The fact United rejected an approach from Atalanta to loan the winger for the remainder of the season shows how highly he is rated by Solskjaer, while the youngster had no intention of remaining in Italy.
He added: “To be honest I cannot wait, I’m so excited at the prospect of working with these fantastic people at such a great club.
“This adventure is about to start and I’m really, really excited and over the moon.”
Diallo has played just 35 minutes for the Atalanta first-team this season – coming off the bench in the Champions League against Midtjylland and in the league against Hellas Verona.
“It’s been a little bit strange these last few months,” he said.
“I would have hoped to have played a little bit more with Atalanta, but it wasn’t possible.
“I’ll always be grateful to Atalanta, it’s thanks to them that I am here now.”