“No control…” Sunderland director reveals all on failed Man United Amad Diallo loan bid

Sunderland technical director Kristjaan Speakman has revealed that the club made every effort to sign Amad Diallo on loan from Manchester United in January.

After five months with an injury, Amad made his much-anticipated return to competitive football for Manchester United.

Despite much interest in the January transfer window, Erik ten Hag was keen to keep him at the club for the rest of the campaign.

Amad spent last season on loan at Sunderland in what was an incredibly successful move, with both clubs extremely satisfied with his performances.

Read More: Manchester United star rejected ‘astronomical offer’ in January before Erik ten Hag FFP admission

Kristjaan Speakman, Sunderland’s technical director, has revealed that Amad was one of a few players that the club were working on recruiting in January.

“Amad would have been one of those three or four targets [that we were working on], but there are factors we have no control over,” Speakman told Sunderland Nation.

“I think you’ve seen, first of all, in terms of the market over the January window, it’s been, I think the phrase that’s been commonly used, is it’s been a fairly dormant market.

“There’s not been as many transactions. And ultimately, then, you’re waiting on player availability most of the time, whether that’s on a permanent basis or a loan basis.

“It ran its course that he wasn’t available. He’s not turned up anywhere else. We stayed in that for as long as we possibly could.

“In hindsight, you could say that was to the detriment of maybe signing another player earlier on, but we felt that was a choice we had to make, and we were comfortable with that choice.”