Amad
Amad was in brilliant form for Manchester United before injuring his ankle
Amad knows how to get Manchester United fans going on social media and his Snapchat post this week raised hopes of a return before the end of the season, combining his own smiling face with the sand timer emoji.
It was initially thought that the ankle injury he sustained in training in February would rule him out for the rest of the season, but Ruben Amorim has since expressed hope he will be back sooner than that and Amad himself is clearly feeling confident about his rehabilitation.
It will be another positive moment for United as momentum builds under Amorim on the back of two stylish wins in a row and a run of just three defeats in 17 games this calendar year. Amad had been United's best player under the Portuguese head coach and his return would bring back some X-factor to an attack finally starting to click.
Amorim said earlier this month "I have the hope to have Amad before [the end of the season]", and that is now looking like a realistic possibility. United have nine relatively meaningless Premier League games left but they face Lyon in a Europa League quarter-final this month and will hope to extend their involvement to the semi-final and final as well.
Having Amad available for games of that magnitude will be a significant bonus, given the form he has displayed under Amorim. He scored six goals and provided five assists at a time when he was almost single-handedly carrying this side's attacking threat.
Recently, there has been an improvement in that regard, and the 4-1 win against Real Sociedad and 3-0 success at Leicester City before the international break showed that Amorim's 3-4-2-1 system was beginning to deliver more consistent results.
That breakthrough has come with more options at No. 10 as well. Joshua Zirkzee has found a regular home there, Alejandro Garnacho is starting to understand the demands of the position and Kobbie Mainoo and Mason Mount's expected April returns will add to the competition. Christian Eriksen can also play there, and Bruno Fernandes could be moved forward as well.
Amad had begun to make that position his own before his injury, having started life under Amorim as a right wing-back. However, the 22-year-old's versatility has been handy, switching in games from attacking midfield to wing-back to accommodate changes. That is the type of player Amorim loves in his team and you can see why he is attracted to Amad.
He is a more attacking wing-back than the other options on the right, allowing Amorim to either play a more front-foot style against certain opponents or move Amad to that position if United are chasing a game. As chief executive Omar Berrada explained earlier this month, it's certainly interesting to consider Amad's position development around what Amorim wants.
"Ultimately, Ruben himself has said it, it's not about the 3-4-3 tactical formation, it's about an idea, a concept of how he wants to see the team playing," said Berrada.
"He wants to see the team playing more on the front foot, more of a possession, attacking-based style of football. So for that, you need players that can play in multiple positions that can adapt to that vision that Ruben has. And this is what we're going try to do over the next years in in our recruitment."
Amad is a perfect example of that, but there is another reason he was switched to an attacking midfield position, which is because he is left-footed, which is something Amorim explained after playing him there for the first time against Viktoria Plzen in December.
"He can be a good player in that position," Amorim said. "We need left-footed players in this team to play that role. In the first half, he was coming for the ball too much. He needed to play near the opposition defence more. He will improve in the future for sure.”
Amad's versatility will remain a bonus to Amorim, but he will also be one of the first names on the teamsheet. He will be used in one of those roles more regularly than the other, and from what we saw before his injury, that might be in an attacking midfield.
If that is the case, then expect Amorim to push for another wing-back this summer ahead of a left-footed No. 10. Where Amad's positional future lies is key to what to expect from this transfer window.