Amad Diallo could complete his transfer to Manchester United this week, according to Manchester Evening News.

The Red Devils announced their agreement to sign the teenager from Atalanta back in October, in a deal believed to be worth £19m with a further £18.5m in add-ons, but revealed that he would officially join the club at a later date. 

He's now been tipped to arrive in Manchester next week, having recently flown to Rome to complete the final round of his paperwork. 

Atalana wanted to keep Diallo on loan for the rest of the season, but it appears United are keen to get him amongst the Old Trafford setup as soon as possible rather than spending the remainder of the campaign in Serie A.

So, who is this young winger causing such a stir? Why have United already agreed to fork out such a big transfer fee for him? And what kind of player is he?

With only five appearances for Atalanta's first team under his belt to date, there isn't a wealth of data or other on-pitch evidence to help analyse Diallo right now. 

However, GIVEMESPORT have managed to dig up comments from a number of football experts over the last few months to give us an insight into what to expect from Diallo, as well as a video analysis of him in action. 

Video Analysis

Youtube content creator Nouman has pieced together a video showing snippets of the Ivory Coast-born youngster's best qualities and his characteristics. Most prevalent amongst those are his confidence when running at defenders with the ball, his preference for drifting inside from the right wing and his ability to create chances - even comparing some of his lofted passes to those of Bruno Fernandes. 

Lionel Messi comparisons

Comparisons with arguably the greatest player of all time are always something of a poisoned chalice. Bojan, Iker Muniain, Ryan Gauld and Ryo Miyiachi have all earned that comparison before, and reached nowhere near the heights of Barcelona's legendary No.10. Nonetheless, it is certainly a mark of massive natural pedigree and enormous potential, so it's worth noting that Atalanta captain Papu Gomez once discussed Diallo and the serial Ballon d'Or winner in the same breath. 

"He plays like Messi. There are defenders in the first team that sometimes cannot stop him. To stop him in training, we have to kick him!"

Destined to become one of the best

While the Messi comparison may inevitably seem a little outlandish, it's not just Diallo's captain who believes he's destined for the top. In quotes reported by The Daily Star, Italian journalist Michele Criscitiello - who is the director for Sportitalia and Tuttomercatoweb - appeared pretty miffed about the fact Italian clubs have been oblivious to Diallo's potential, allowing Manchester United to snap him up instead. 

"We are in the presence of a boy who is still very young, but with impressive growth potential... I’m convinced he will explode in the short term. Despite my insistence, no Italian team has really focused on Diallo. The result? The player is gone to Manchester United for a total sum of €40m. Serie A has lost a player destined to become one of the best in his role."

Solskjaer's excitement

Of course, no manager in their right mind is going to question a new signing before they've even officially joined their incoming employers, but Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's anticipation of Diallo's arrival is certainly encouraging. While warning that we shouldn't expect too much too soon, the Manchester United manager has been quick to talk up how excited he is by the youngster. 

"I hope very soon he will be with us. I'm very excited about bringing him in. I think he's shown a few times his qualities. Of course he has to learn to play in England, that's a different level of football. We'll give him time to develop and to express himself."

Overwhelming ability

Back in December 2019, journalist Aniello Luciano gave an intriguing overview of Diallo's journey to that point, detailing how the nature of his hometown of Abidjan on the Ivory Coast can be spotted in his style of play. It's an interesting read as Luciano - who has worked with MundoFutbol and Transfermarkt - waxed lyrical about the youngster's skillset. 

"The list of Traoré’s abilities is overwhelming: The technical control of the ball with his touch and passing, his consistent changes of pace and direction at a high tempo, sometimes through the centre and sometimes down the flanks, always dribbling against the opponent." 

Greatness recognises greatness

And finally, an insight into how noticeable Diallo's talent has been from a relatively young age. Legendary goalkeeper Giovanni Galli encountered both Diallo and his brother Hamad Junior Traore, who plays for Empoli, when he was working as Lucchese's sporting director. He couldn't seal their services for Lucchese because they counted as non-EU players, but he instantly recognised their potential. 

"You could immediately tell they were way better than all the other players we had... Their quality was incredible... Amad was tremendous. Great technical skills, outstanding personality. The way they touched the ball was different, they did nutmegs and all that. They were on another level."