When Amad first made the switch to Sunderland, it felt as though it was already a make-or-break move for the youngster.
An underwhelming stint at Rangers last season left many concerned about whether his future lay with Manchester United or not. Signing off with a goal against Rayo Vallecano before switching to the North East did nothing to alleviate those concerns nor did his start at the Stadium of Light.
Struggling to break into the first team, the 20-year-old had to settle for mainly cameo appearances off the bench for the first couple of months. His predicament worsened further when he was dropped to Sunderland's U21s in October; time looked to be running out for the Ivorian.
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But, seemingly out of nowhere, Amad managed to discover a resurgence at Sunderland. His maiden goal in the defeat to Burnley spurred the young forward on and since then he has been rattling in the goals for the Black Cats.
To date, Amad has scored six goals and grabbed one assist during his loan spell with Tony Mowbray's team. This now appears to have led to calls from some fans to bring him back to help address United's own shyness in front of goal.
However, such a move may be hasty. As Erik ten Hag alluded to in his pre-match press conference, the Reds need to be careful about halting his progress at an inopportune moment.
"We consider everything but I have a little bit of reservation about [recalling Amad] because I don’t want to stop the process," he told reporters. "He has made really good progress there so I’m happy with that.
"But young players need experiences and when we decide for him to come back, he has to be a player who can compete for the starting XI or minimum to come on for a lot of games and make an impact." If Amad was to return to United, would he slot straight into the first team? The answer is probably not.
Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford are two guaranteed starters no matter what. Antony is perhaps not in the best form at the moment but Amad is unlikely to be ahead of him or his replacement, Alejandro Garnacho.
Should he return, Amad would most likely be a bench player again who is given his chances in cup competitions and as a substitute. Therefore there is no need to rush him away from a loan spell where he is performing so admirably.
Ten Hag's best course of action would be to keep Amad at Sunderland for the rest of the season and then re-evaluate the loan situation again in the summer. By which point, you could see the 20-year-old as a more regular feature in the United squad.
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