Amad Diallo names Man Utd and Arsenal target he loves playing alongside | Football

Amad Diallo has singled out Manchester United target Yan Diomande for special praise as interest across Europe grows in the Ivory Coast star.

Amad and Diomande were both on the score sheet as The Elephants sealed a 3-0 win over Burkina Faso to ease into the quarter-finals of the Africa Cup of Nations.

The RB Leipzig star has emerged as one of the Bundesliga’s brightest young talents with United and Paris Saint-Germain among his growing number of admirers. Arsenal are also considering a move according to recent reports.

Leipzig will not do business until the summer at the earliest having already placed a €100million price tag on their 19-year-old star.

Amad heaped praise to his young countryman with both men on the score sheet in their latest victory, making it clear the two can be a deadly combination when playing next to each other .

‘Our game is first and foremost about fighting,’ Amad said.

‘Everyone tries to contribute to the team, and then we have this understanding on the pitch.

‘We’re also very close off the pitch, so that makes things easier on the pitch. And we’re selfless: we don’t play for ourselves, nobody tries to be man of the match.

‘If I have the opportunity to pass to him, I pass to him; if he has the opportunity to pass to me, he passes to me. That’s what a great nation, a great team, is all about. You have to move forward together to win this competition.

‘It’s not enough to have one player; you need eleven on the pitch, and that’s what we’re trying to do. Yan is a very good player, everyone knows that.

‘But it’s not just Yan Diomande; there’s also Bazoumana, who scored today, and Oumar Diakité. Everyone is doing their part, and for the moment, it’s working perfectly.’

Amad has had a sensational AFCON campaign with Ivory Coast up against Egypt in the next round, scoring in three of his country’s four matches so far.

Ivory Coast will now take on record seven-time winners Egypt in a heavyweight quarter-final in Agadir on Saturday, a colossal clash that is a repeat of the 2006 decider where the North African side triumphed on penalties after a 0-0 ⁠draw.

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