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Man Utd confirm plans for Diallo’s role

Manchester United are hopeful Amad Diallo will develop into their long-term right-winger.

Diallo, 18, completed his £37million transfer from Atalanta this month and was one of two right-wingers United signed in October, along with Uruguayan teenager Facundo Pellistri, following the failed pursuit of Borussia Dortmund forward Jadon Sancho.

The last specialist right winger United signed prior to Pellistri and Diallo was Wilfried Zaha in the January 2013 window and the role has become a problem position since Sir Alex Ferguson retired.

Daniel James, Mason Greenwood, Juan Mata, Marcus Rashford and Paul Pogba have all started on the right-hand side this season but it is not their favoured position. Diallo, a left-footed winger, was developed on the right in Atalanta’s academy and is set to stay there at United.

read also:Amad Diallo tickles Ole in training ready for real match debut

“Well that’s his preferred position,” Solskjaer noted. “He is good at finding space, he can go inside and outside and he will get the time to prove that he is the one.

“Along the way we have got Mason, Marcus, Dan, Juan, Paul has played there, so we have options but I think when you look at the squad and you look at Amad and you think, ‘yeah that’s probably where we will work to fit you in’.”

United will end Wednesday night top of the Premier League if they beat Sheffield United at Old Trafford and, despite the disappointment of a fourth successive semi-final loss, have enjoyed an otherwise excellent January on the domestic front.

The defeat of Liverpool in Sunday’s FA Cup fifth round tie marked United’s first victory over their rivals in six games and Liverpool have failed to win any of their last five league fixtures, scoring just once. Solskjaer is hopeful the cup wins proves to be a seminal moment in his tenure.

“Of course a game like this can be pivotal, it can be important,” he said. “I think we have shown in the two Liverpool games, the two City games that we have played lately, that we are competitive when we play on our own terms.

Manchester United beat Liverpool 3-2 in a thrilling FA Cup fourth round encounter at Old Trafford.

Bruno Fernandes’ free-kick secured the win after Mason Greenwood and Marcus Rashford goals had been cancelled out by a Mo Salah brace. United will face West Ham in the fifth round, while their next league game is at home to Sheffield United.

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“Over the years, we have won a few of those games by tweaking the system, changing things just for one game. I wanted to get to a place where we can go into these games and be competitive and we have done.

“Of course, we beat Liverpool, City beat us, it could easily have been the other way around in both of those games. They were tight games but we are in these games and we are playing on our own terms, we are creating chances, big chances, and you can win every one of them, that has been a big step forward for us.

“You can look back over the last few seasons and we have had some decent results against City before and good performances against Liverpool. Yeah they beat us 2-0 last year but that is the one defeat that we have had against them. This period is the first time we have gone with the way that we have normally set up a team.”

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