The past 12 months at Manchester United have been dominated by news of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's most high-profile signing.
Cristiano Ronaldo was touted as the player to bring the Premier League title back to Old Trafford, the final piece in a jigsaw slowly assembled since his departure 13 years previous. But that dream quickly turned into a nightmare, with the majority of 2022 centred around the Portuguese's future.
But away from the touchline strops, media briefings and Piers Morgan interviews, another Solskjaer acquisition has been busy quietly turning the court of public opinion. Amad, despite arriving for £37million in January 2021, was deemed as 'one for the future', with his Atalanta highlights consisting of just five senior appearances.
But his ineffectual loan spell at Rangers in the second half of last season had cast doubts over just how far into the future his time would come. And the early months at Sunderland left questions as to whether it would ever come at all.
In his first four months at the Stadium of the Light he earned just one start with Mackems boss Tony Mowbray openly critical about the 20-year-old's flaws. "We need him to shoot more. It's something I tell him every single day," Mowbray said, shortly after Amad was relegated to the Under-21s in October.
"It's almost as if he wants to score a brilliant perfect goal. He feints to shoot, sits somebody down, skips past the next one, faints to shoot and the goalie dives and he rolls it in the corner. We all then go 'wow'.
"He's in the middle of the box on his favoured left foot ten yards out. He has just got to smash that in and he waits for the defender to come so he can skip past him."
However, since Mowbray's words of advice, the tide has turned for Amad and the Championship promotion hopefuls. Utilised predominantly as a central striker, he has six goals in his last 10 matches, guiding the Black Cats firmly into the play-off race.
On an individual basis, Amad earned himself a nomination for the Championship Player of the Month in November, with Mowbray summing up the rapid change of trajectory at his loan club.
"You don't get bought for £37m unless you are an amazing talent and I watch him in training with our players and he does some extraordinary things with the ball, it's stuck to his foot... it's unbelievable how talented he is."
"Everyone sees his amazing talent. I was just watching training before, and he takes your breath away at how talented he is."
His form had led to some speculation that United could recall the forward in the January window. Mowbray believes that isn’t on the card, with Red Devils bosses delighted with the improvement sparked by playing regular football.
"My experience tells me he is in a really good place, so leave him, let him enjoy his football, and let him grow and develop," Mowbray said earlier this month. "Otherwise, what's he doing? He could go back to Manchester United and maybe not even get on their bench.
"He's a young guy who's had a tough period, he's now found a bit of form and somewhere where he is settled and looking happy, so I would just let him keep going."
United officials appear to concur with that sentiment and have already rejected proposals from some Italian clubs. With no buy option in his Sunderland loan deal, he looks set to see out the season on Wearside, before returning to give Erik ten Hag a chance to benefit from Solskjaer's under-the-radar signing.
