Wayne Rooney has described Derby County as ‘very unlikely’ to secure the loan signing of Manchester United youngster Amad Diallo this month.
Amad has been earmarked for a loan move for the rest of the season in search of first-team opportunities to aid his ongoing development.
The 19-year-old is seen as a very bright talent for the future, highlighted by United’s willingness to invest up to £37.5m in him last January from Atalanta. But since recovering from injury earlier in October, he has only made one senior appearance so far this season.
United have continued talks with Birmingham since a proposed loan to St. Andrew’s hit a late snag and the clubs were unable to finalise the deal. Derby were one of the rival Championship sides also taking an interest in Amad, but Rooney has now ruled the Rams out.
“He is a Manchester United player and obviously he is a player of interest from a few clubs, I know that,” Rooney explained at a press conference on Thursday. “He is a player who of course I like him. If you are asking me, is he going to be with us at some point in January, then that is very unlikely.”
Further afield, the likes of Borussia Dortmund and Sassuolo have been mentioned in recent days.
United have developed close links with Birmingham this season, having already sent winger Tahith Chong and centre-back Teden Mengi on loan to the Blues. Chong, who moved in the summer, has been nursing a groin injury since October but Mengi made his debut last weekend, playing 120 minutes of the club’s FA Cup third round defeat to Plymouth.
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Source : 90min