TONY Mowbray hopes Sunderland can continue to benefit from their close relationship with Manchester United on the back of Amad Diallo's superb loan spell on Wearside.

Amad was a huge success at the Stadium of Light, scoring 13 goals on his way to being nominated for the Championship's Young Player of the Season.

Erik ten Hag now plans to include the Ivorian in his squad for Manchester United's pre-season trip to the United States and have a close look at the 20-year-old before deciding whether or not he's ready to feature at Old Trafford next season.

If ten Hag decides Amad is better served spending another season out on loan, Mowbray would love to bring the forward back to Wearside - but a return is unlikely, with clubs in the Premier League and in Europe closely monitoring the youngster's situation.

While an Amad return is, in all likelihood, not on the cards, Sunderland could yet look to Manchester United for other loans next season.

The two clubs have a strong relationship and United - and plenty of other Premier League clubs - hold Mowbray in extremely high regard when it comes to the handling and progression of young players with big potential.

Mowbray has a superb track record with top flight loanees and Sunderland will be high on the wishlist for Premier League clubs who are keen to send their youngsters to the Championship for a season of first team experience.

Not all Premier League youngsters make a success of a loan like Amad did last season, but Mowbray has plenty of positive experiences when it comes to dealing with emerging Manchester United talent.

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"I hope we can keep a close relationship with United, if they need to loan young players out," Mowbray told Manchester United's official website.

"It’s amazing really, I’ve been in management a long time, like you’ve said, and even the likes of Joe Rothwell, who I had at Blackburn, came through the United ranks.

"Whether they never made it to the first-team level, they all were bedded through and came through that system really.

"I think the game is littered with Manchester United players who came through their system, through their academy system, and generally what you know is you get grounded, talented footballers who know what to do with the football. They know how to deal with the ball.

"When I’m looking for players, I always look to see what their background is, where they were brought up and the core values of what their football brain is about. You never really fall short with Manchester United players, whether they made it at first-team level or not as, generally, they’ve all been brought up properly.”

Amad loved his time on Wearside and set tongues wagging earlier this month when he posted a handshake emoji on Instagram in response to reports that a Sunderland return would be a possibility providing Mowbray was still in charge.

But West Ham, Everton and Burnley are all keen on the forward and will swoop if ten Hag sanctions another loan exit. Feyenoord, who are preparing for the Champions League after winning the Dutch title, are also interested. They failed with a bid for Amad two years ago.