Percentile = how he ranks vs his peer group. 90th = top 10%, 99th = top 1%.

Here are percentiles you need to understand Amad:

The one number that hasn’t caught up yet:

This season has felt like two players for Amad:

RWB Amad: still carries, still creates, still generates shots but from deeper starting positions, with more work attached.
Winger Amad: the version who should decide matches, not just connect phases.

Carrick’s early pattern suggests a conscious attempt to keep Amad higher closer to the touchline, closer to the box, closer to where his best actions begin.

If Amad is staying in the front line now the success criteria becomes simpler and stricter:

Get him to isolate the defending fullback outwide, repeatedly.

Not because he can’t play inside but because his biggest edge is when he faces a fullback with space, he wins more than he loses.

How to actually engineer the 1v1

This is what it should look like structurally:

The geometry is simple: if Amad is isolated 1v1 with runway, he becomes a repeatable chance generator. The system’s job is to create that over and over.

This is the match where we saw what “Winger Amad” can look like when the structure cooperates.

Why this map matters tactically:
Notice where the touches cluster: high and wide on the right touchline, not buried deep as an auxiliary wing-back. United’s shape kept City’s left-back honest (overlap threat), while midfield positioning made it harder for City to double Amad without opening central gaps.

This is the template: don’t just “give Amad freedom.”
Build the structure that makes the 1v1 inevitable.

United’s last match was the 3–2 win at Arsenal (Jan 25, 2026) - full match review here. Amad’s box score was stark:

This wasn’t a bad performance. It was a limited one.

Arsenal didn’t give him the runway to attack their left-back in space, and when that happens, Amad’s current version can drift into recycling rather than forcing the issue. That’s where the 91% passing matters: even in a contained game, he helped United retain the ball a real contribution while still putting in defensive work.

But the next step in his evolution is the uncomfortable part:

Elite wingers don’t just perform when the system creates perfect conditions, they create their own 1v1s.
By demanding the ball higher, manipulating defenders with movement, or combining quickly to re-open the lane.

If he’s going to be Carrick’s primary right-sided weapon, the floor needs to be higher than “tidy but non-threatening.”

That’s not “bad Amad.” That’s “quiet Amad.”
And it matters because the difference between him being a game-breaker and him being a passenger often comes down to one thing:

Does the system reliably engineer him the 1v1 wide?
If yes, he looks like a weapon. If not, he can drift into being tidy but low-impact.

Strengths (what’s already working)

1) Ball progression (top-end trait)
He’s a release valve: one touch can turn pressure into territory. That’s why the progressive-carry profile jumps off the page.

2) Chance creation from wide
Key passes + SCA aren’t “good for a wing-back.” They’re standout output full stop.

3) Ball retention (quietly massive)
Season-wide he’s completing 87.2% of his passes and is dispossessed 15 times across ~1,400 minutes (about ~1.0 per 90).
For a player who wants to dribble and invite contact, that’s safer than you’d expect which suggests he’s already disciplined about when to take risks.

Improvements (what takes him from dangerous to decisive)

1) Finishing conversion
2 goals from ~3.9 xG suggests either correction is coming, or he needs one fewer low-value effort and one more box touch before shooting.

2) Creating his own runway
Arsenal is the warning sign: when the lane isn’t there, he can slip into recycling. The next jump is learning how to manufacture the picture anyway whether that’s checking short then spinning in behind, dragging the fullback narrow then accelerating wide, or combining with the #10 to create a 2v1.

3) Final action quality when crowded
The “engineered 1v1” fixes a lot. But when the box is set, the margin is execution: first touch into space, timing of the release, accuracy of the final ball.

Amad’s 2025/26 season has already proven something important:

He can play a “defender” role for months and still produce attacker output.

Now, with Carrick in charge and the Premier League run-in all that’s left, the job is clarity:

Stop treating him like a multipurpose tool. Start treating him like a specialist.

Not “free role.” Not “wherever we need legs.” A repeatable structure that isolates him wide, gives him runway, and lets his carries become chances.

He arrived from Atalanta as a teenager, survived loans at Rangers and Sunderland, and kept developing until the player finally matched the hype.

That matters now because this feels like the first season where the question isn’t “does Amad belong?” It’s “what kind of attacker can he become if United stop making him do the serious job?”

And with Carrick moving him higher, we’re finally about to get the answer.