Amad Diallo’s arrival at Manchester United ‘similar’ to Cristiano Ronaldo’s, says Rio Ferdinand

Hopes are high for the 18-year-old winger

(Getty Images for Lega Serie A)

Rio Ferdinand has said the arrival of Amad Diallo at Manchester United is reminiscent of that of Cristiano Ronaldo.

Eighteen-year-old Diallo arrived at Old Trafford from Serie A side Atalanta this month, almost eighteen years after fellow winger Ronaldo signed for the Red Devils from Sporting Lisbon.

And Ronaldo’s former team-mate at United, Rio Ferdinand, has said the feeling around the Ivorian’s arrival has been similar to that around the Portugal captain’s move to the club all those years ago.

“We’ve just bought a kid in from Atalanta and hopefully he does something,” Ferdinand said of Diallo on his FIVE podcast.

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“If you see his clips and speak to people at the club who are involved in buying him, potentially this kid could be a world-beater.

“That is the thought of Manchester United people, that this kid is one they have unearthed.

“I don’t want to put the pressure of Ronaldo on him, but no one knew about Ronaldo when we bought him other than the people in Portugal.

“This kid seems similar in that sense and if you see his clips and the way people talk about him, the world is his oyster if he applies himself right.”

Ronaldo won three Premier League titles and one Champions League, one FA Cup and two League Cups with United before joining Real Madrid in the summer of 2009 for what was then a world-record transfer fee of €94million.

Dallo, meanwhile, joins United in a transfer worth €25m-40m, having agreed the move in October.