After Amad Diallo's successful loan assignment with Manchester United this season, Sunderland manager Tony Mowbray acknowledges he would like to continue working with the Red Devils.
Amad joined the Black Cats for the season last summer in an attempt by Mowbray to bolster his teams' chances of making it back to the Championship.
At the Stadium of Light, the 20-year-old had a standout season. His 14 goals and three assists helped his team reach the play-offs, where they lost to eventual promotion-winner Luton Town in the semifinals.
The second-tier team pleased those at Old Trafford by believing in a young player and giving them the opportunity to succeed, and United technical director Darren Fletcher maintained open communication with both Amad and Sunderland during the loan period. Mowbray now hopes to keep up the working connection throughout the summer.
"I hope we can keep a close relationship with United, if they need to loan young players out," Mowbray told United's official website.
"It’s amazing really, I’ve been in management a long time, like you’ve said, and even the likes of Joe Rothwell, who I had at Blackburn, came through the United ranks [Joe is now with Bournemouth in the Premier League]."
"Whether they never made it to the first-team level, they all were bedded through and came through that system really.
"I think the game is littered with Manchester United players who came through their system, through their Academy system, and generally what you know is you get grounded, talented footballers who know what to do with the football. They know how to deal with the ball."
"When I’m looking for players, I always look to see what their background is, where they were brought up and the core values of what their football brain is about. You never really fall short with Manchester United players, whether they made it at first-team level or not as, generally, they’ve all been brought up properly."
Amad will go with United on their preseason tour of the United States, giving the young player a new opportunity to win over manager Erik ten Hag and challenge for a spot in the starting lineup. However, certain other young people, including Alvaro Fernandez, Shola Shoretire, and Hannibal Mejbri, might be given another loan.
Erik Ten Hag already affirmed that the 20 year old Ivorian winger is part of his plans for next campaign.
"We consider everything, but I have a little bit of reservation about that because I don’t want to stop the process," he said.
"He's made really good progress there so I’m happy with that. When we decide for him to come back, he has to be a player who can compete for the starting line-up or come on for a lot of games and make an impact."