Manchester United are riding a high after beating Manchester City in their own backyard 2-1, powered by another dominating performance by Amad.
Amad won a penalty with his industriousness and then grabbed all three points for his team with a brilliant finish in the dying embers of the game.
It continued a purple patch for the Ivorian that is increasingly looking like his genuine level and not a flash in the pan.
It feels a world away from the situation he found himself in just this year, on February 24, 2024, when Manchester United hosted Fulham in the Premier League.
Erik ten Hag chooses Omari Forson over Amad
The date is February 24, 2024, and Manchester United’s injury crisis has somehow worsened with Rasmus Hojlund’s injury halting his red-hot form.
With zero strikers available, Erik ten Hag has to chop and change, with Marcus Rashford starting as the striker which means Alejandro Garnacho takes his place on the left.
Antony is struggling massively still so the right-wing spot is open for the taking, with Amad impressing in small cameos throughout the season.
The fan sentiment was firmly in favour of giving the Ivorian a genuine starting chance at home against manageable opposition but Ten Hag has other ideas.
Omari Forson starts, the teenager whose contract is set to expire at the end of the season, starts on the right in a shock selection call.
The manager would go on to say that he wanted to reward Forson for his good cameos against Newport County and Wolves and because he trained well.
Forson fails to impress, becoming the first player to be subbed off in the game United would eventually lose 1-2. To add insult to injury, Amad doesn’t even come on for him.
Ten Hag changed the system entirely instead of bringing Amad on, with the Ivorian only coming on in the 80th minute, having more touches of the ball in ten minutes than Forson had in 53.
Forson wouldn’t make many more appearances for the first team before leaving the club on a free transfer for Monza in Serie A, as if Ten Hag’s decision wasn’t already questionable to begin with.
How Omari Forson is faring at Monza
Forson was an exciting prospect in his own right, impressing in the youth games at United which is why Monza decided to take a chance on him, especially on a free transfer.
On the day Amad tore apart Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium, Forson came off the bench for Monza against Lecce for a 23-minute cameo.
Monza lost 2-1 to remain 19th in the table, level on points with bottom-placed Venezia after 16 games. Forson had 16 touches of the ball and one shot from outside the box in an unassuming cameo.
Suffering from a stop-start spell in Italy due to injuries, Forson has only made six appearances for Monza which has just one start and only a combined 173 minutes of football.
He’s yet to score or assist in that limited time as he’s been thrust into a dysfunctional side battling relegation, expected to be the underdogs almost every week.
Monza has won just one game of the six he has made an appearance in, starter or as a substitute, and while that hasn’t got much to do with him as he’s played extremely limited minutes, it speaks to the difficult situation he finds himself in.
As a United academy product, the hope among Man Utd fans will always be that he turns it around and makes good on the potential he showed in youth football but he might need a change of scenery or dropping down a level to do that.
Ten Hag’s treatment of Amad was bad and questionable when it happened. With the benefit of hindsight, judging it today, it somehow looks even worse.
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