Erik ten Hag has opened up on Amad Diallo's future at Manchester United as the attacker continues to make waves at Sunderland.

The former Rangers frontman has quickly become a fan favourite at the Stadium of Light after notching 12 goals over the course of the campaign so far.

Diallo spent six months on-loan at Ibrox last season, but he failed to become a regular starter under Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

As a result, he headed down south again, and he appears to have found a fit working under Tony Mowbray at Sunderland.

His form has not gone unnoticed by Manchester United boss Ten Hag, who is keeping a close eye on his loanee from afar. 

He explained this week: "We consider everything but I have a little bit of reservation about [recalling Amad] because I don't want to stop the process.

"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."

Mowbray was also vocal on Diallo's future at the weekend as the 20-year-old netted the winner for his side against Birmingham.

He said: “I don’t really know Amad intimately to know what drives him.

“He loves football, he wants to play, so what do you do if you’re at Manchester United? Are you happy just to be a Manchester United player and play six sub appearances and two starts over a season of 60 games, or do you want to go and play?

“So do they sell him? And if they do they’ll want to recruit [stet] their money which was reportedly €40m or whatever it was. The reality is he won’t be coming here unless they think he is going to be one hell of a player but he needs another year out, he enjoys Sunderland so he can go and keep playing for them.

“That would be the ideal scenario for us. Pretty unlikely but you never know. If they see him as someone they genuinely feel can play for their first team then they need to keep him on board.

 “I would suggest they’ll try another level. You would think he’ll go to the Premier League or go back to Italy. My gut feeling for Amad is if he doesn’t stay at Manchester United he goes for big, big money to a top Spanish team really.”