MANCHESTER, England – Ruben Amorim still has one more Sporting Lisbon match to prepare for before he takes over as Manchester United’s new head coach, but Amad Diallo can only hope his boss-to-be is watching his performance against PAOK FC.

The 22-year-old winger has struggled for opportunities under former manager Erik ten Hag, who was sacked from the club last week. He was recalled to the team by caretaker Ruud van Nistelrooy for Thursday’s Europa League match against the Greek champions. He was United’s best player, scoring both goals in a 2–0 win.

Amad’s header at the back post early in the second half put his team ahead in a match that had been in the balance until then. His second, a curling effort from the edge of the penalty area, sealed United’s first victory in European competition in more than a year.

Amorim will be busy balancing his preparations for Sporting’s match in Braga on Sunday with an early assessment of the squad he will inherit when he takes charge at Old Trafford on Monday. In that sense it was perfect timing for Amad; he did more than enough against POAK to get his new coach to put a check mark next to his name.

“He is a great character,” Van Nistelrooy said of Amad. “A hard worker and he shows that at every training session. Every day after training he comes to me and wants to do extra finishing, extra cross-country, how can I improve my head.

“He is constantly focused on learning and improving, living in a professional way and he is very motivated to get the best out of his career. I was very happy for him.”

At the final whistle, United’s official Instagram account posted a photo of Amad with the caption ‘let him cook’. The problem, however, is that he is hardly allowed into the kitchen. It became a mystery to some United fans why he was continually overlooked by Ten Hag.

The Ivorian was responsible for one of the best moments of Ten Hag’s reign when he went half the length of the pitch to win stoppage time against Liverpool in the FA Cup last season. Despite his heroics that day, he struggled to break into the team on a regular basis.

Amad scored in a rare Premier League start against Brighton in August but was dropped for the next match against Liverpool a week later. He was given another start against Southampton and registered an assist for Marcus Rashford in a 3–0 win. Since then, his involvement has been largely limited to the role of impact substitute.

From the start against POAK, he made the most of his opportunities. He was unlucky not to be awarded a penalty when a quick and direct run into the box was only ended by a clumsy challenge from Baba Rahman. Shortly afterwards his ferocious press, which ended with a cracking tackle at the other end of the pitch, was met with huge cheers from the Stretford End.

His running header in the 50th minute put United ahead, but Amad’s second goal was better. After robbing Rahman of the ball, he took a few more touches and curled his finish into the far corner. He went off in the 80th minute, won the match and received a bear hug from Van Nistelrooy and a standing ovation from the home fans.

Van Nistelrooy was not happy with United’s first-half performance – POAK had more shots and more shots on target in the opening 45 minutes – but Amad saved the Dutchman from an embarrassing blemish on his CV as a caretaker.

“The first half was not good, that is clear,” said Van Nistelrooy. “I paid a lot of attention to positioning at half-time. In the first half we lost too many positions and that meant we couldn’t get going.

“In the first half Amad was our best player and in the second half he decided the game for us. He was excellent. The second goal had everything that Amad Diallo is for me. He fought for the ball from the PAOK defender , pushed through to get the shot and had the quality to curl it around the goalkeeper.”

As impressive as he was, Amad still has reason to be nervous about Amorim’s arrival.

A true winger, his position doesn’t really exist in the Portuguese coach’s favored 3-4-3 system. Instead of attackers who are instructed to stay high and wide, Amorim usually chooses two narrow attackers behind a central striker. It is possible that Amad could fill one of the full-back roles, but that would require more defensive responsibility than he is used to.

Concerns about where they might fit among Amorim are not limited to Amad. Established senior players like Bruno Fernandes and Rashford will also be trying to figure out what their roles could be once he takes charge.

Van Nistelrooy is in the same boat. He has two wins and a draw to his name in his three games as interim boss, but ahead of his latest assignment against Leicester on Sunday he is still waiting to find out whether or not he will be retained as part of the new backroom staff.

“I have to check my phone now, we’ll see later,” he joked during his post-match press conference.

The next time United play Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League in three weeks, Amorim will be on the sidelines. Amad and Van Nistelrooy can only hope that they get a prominent role when the new era dawns.