Amad Diallo opens up on becoming Man United's cult hero, unfinished business in the Europa League final, Ruben Amorim and why he has no hard feelings towards Erik ten Hag

After watching two Europa League finals from the bench, Amad Diallo is in no mood to make it an unwanted hat-trick in the San Mames on Wednesday night.

‘Now it’s my moment,’ says Manchester United’s new cult hero, and you wouldn’t bet against him taking centre-stage against Tottenham in Bilbao.

The final stage of Diallo’s journey from fringe player to fans’ favourite can be traced back to United’s draw with Fenerbahce in the group stage of the competition last October.

A fuming Diallo waiting to come on as Antony, who had been brought off the bench ahead of him, was stretchered away in Istanbul.

United’s backroom staff taking it in turns to placate the little Ivorian. First, Rene Hake then Andreas Georgson and, finally, Ruud van Nistelrooy.

‘In that moment, I was frustrated because you can understand sometimes maybe you deserve to play and you don’t play,’ says the 22-year-old.

‘I need the game time to show I can play for this club and you have a little bit of frustration.’

It proved to be Erik ten Hag’s penultimate game in charge. He was sacked four days later after a defeat at West Ham. Diallo impressed in Van Nistelrooy’s four games as caretaker and has flourished since Ruben Amorim arrived in November.

To put his progress this season in some perspective, of Diallo’s 62 games, 13 goals and 11 assists since joining United more than four years ago, 29 games, nine goals and eight assists have come since Ten Hag’s departure.

Typically, there is no bitterness towards the Dutchman. ‘Honestly, Erik helped me a lot,’ says Diallo. ‘He was giving me a lot of advice. Even when I wasn’t playing, he was telling me to train very hard every time.

‘I want to thank him again for the opportunity he gave me and wish him all the best.’

There were flashes under Ten Hag, notably the incredible 120th-minute winner that gave United a 4-3 win over Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter-final and sent Old Trafford into delirium last season.

However, when it came to the final and United’s win over Manchester City, Diallo was back on the bench again as an unused substitute.

He has been the standout success of Amorim’s troubled change of system, playing regularly at right wing-back or in a No.10 role that he is likely to be handed in Bilbao.

‘Honestly, I don’t have preference,’ says Diallo. ‘I’m a player who likes to play, and I’m available for every position.

‘So if the manager prefers to put me as a right wing-back, I will be happy to play there or No.10. I just want to follow the manager and his system.’

He set up the first goal of Amorim’s reign for Marcus Rashford inside two minutes at Ipswich and has hardly looked back since. A late equaliser at Anfield, a hat-trick against Southampton.

One by one, his rivals for that right-wing berth have fallen by the wayside. Jadon Sancho and Omari Forson left last summer, Rashford and Antony in January. It was no coincidence that Diallo signed a new contract that same month, tying him to the club until 2030.

After four years, five different United managers and two loan moves, it feels as though he truly belongs at Old Trafford.

‘I think it’s the game time,’ he says. ‘Since I got that game time, I showed everyone I can play for this club. That was the only thing I didn’t have at the beginning when I arrived here.

‘Now I have a manager who believes in me, who trusts me, so I’m grateful for everything he did for me. I’m trying to repay his confidence every time I’m on the pitch.’

Diallo certainly cuts a more confident figure than the bashful young man who faced the media at the UCLA campus on last summer’s US tour.

His four-letter message to Alejandro Garnacho and Manuel Ugarte that went viral after United’s dramatic quarter-final win over Lyon was evidence of a player who feels at home with his peers – and doesn’t rely on anybody else to post on social media for him.

‘It’s me, it’s me. Nobody (else), it’s me. It’s Amad. That was funny, no?’ he laughs.

‘Honestly, I’m a good guy with everyone. I have good energy, good vibes. Everyone likes to be with me.’

It hasn’t always been easy to maintain the smile that is never far from Diallo’s face.

His transfer to United from Atalanta in January 2021, worth up to £37.2million including add-ons, came amid a child-trafficking investigation into how he moved to Italy from Ivory Coast.

If he was just happy to be on the bench when United lost on penalties to Villarreal in the Europa League final that year – ‘It was a dream for me, we had great players like (Paul) Pogba and (Edinson) Cavani – missing out again when Rangers were beaten in the final by Eintracht Frankfurt in a shootout the following season was the culmination of a difficult time in Scotland.

Another loan spell at Sunderland was more rewarding, but were there ever doubts that he would make it at United?

‘I think I believe in my potential,’ Diallo replies. ‘I believe I can be one of the best in the world. I just have to give my best every game.

‘I think sometimes you need experience. I think to have loans at Rangers and Sunderland helped me a lot to grow up, so now I’m so happy to help the club.

‘I’m always positive. I’m always smiling with everyone, so that’s my natural thing. That’s me, that’s Amad, so I always try to grow up with positive things.

‘I think it’s from my parents because they always have good vibes, good energy. It’s a family thing.’

Having established himself at the heart of the new set-up under Amorim, however, Diallo suffered a serious ankle injury in training in February that required surgery and threatened to end his season.

‘I was pressing (Andre) Onana, and I think my left foot stayed on the grass then turned,’ he recalls. ‘In that moment I knew it was something bad, but I didn’t know if my season was really over.

‘After my operation, I kept believing, I kept praying to be back. I just tried every morning to do my best with the physios. They did a brilliant job for me.

‘I’m so happy to be back before the end of the season. I want to help the team to win something at the end, and we will try to do our best in the final.

‘I already lost two and I hope to win this one. Now it’s my moment. It’s the moment for the club, it’s the moment for the players, for everyone, for the fans because they deserve this moment.’