Amad was caught on camera putting his middle finger up in the direction of supporters in the Malaysian capital of Kuala Lumpur – and he has now explained why he did so
Amad has defended his decision to show the middle finger to supporters during Manchester United’s post-season tour. The United forward went viral after a video of him swearing towards fans in Malaysia was widely shared on social media.
The incident happened outside United’s hotel in Kuala Lumpur, with the club in the Malaysian capital to play the ASEAN All-Stars in a friendly on Wednesday. United went on to lose the game 1-0 – and their disastrous trip wasn’t helped by the negative attention brought by Amad’s actions.
However, the club have defended the 22-year-old, who they say was responding to «serious personal abuse» about his mother. Amad himself wrote on X: «I have respect for people but not for the one who insults my mom…
«I shouldn’t have reacted like that but I don’t regret what I did. We had a great time in Malaysia with good people.»
The abuse happened while United’s players left the team hotel for their coach. There was a large group of supporters gathered to greet them and, in one of the videos on social media, they can be heard shouting Amad’s name in an effort to get his attention.
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It is understood that what Amad took offense to wasn’t racist, but rather that fans were shouting «Diallo» at him. The Ivory Coast international has previously requested to be known solely by his first name, following some controversy involving a trafficking case from his time at previous club Atalanta.
Amad was fined £42,000 by the Italian FA in 2021 after an investigation into allegations he used false documents and fake parents to get into Italy. United signed him for an initial fee of £19million – which could rise to £37m – from Atalanta in January 2021 and, after a successful loan spell at Sunderland, he has become a regular first-team player.
He will be involved when United play Hong Kong in the second of their post-season tour games, which have been embarked upon to earn the struggling club around £7.8m.
Having used 25 outfield players in the embarrassing loss in Malaysia, Ruben Amorim will again rotate his team against Hong Kong, albeit without Harry Maguire, Diogo Dalot and Andre Onana, who have flown on to a fan engagement event in India.
United did not shy away from the Amad incident in Kuala Lumpur, having put him up for the press conference in Hong Kong, where he fielded questions about his close friend Alejandro Garnacho, who is expected to leave the club this summer.
“Alejandro is a really good player and we need good players in the team,” Amad told reporters when asked if he hoped Garnacho might stay. “I know Garna really well, so I hope to have Garna next season. It is not really a big issue for the team. Everything is good now.»
Speaking about his plans for the Hong Kong match, Amorim said: “I will try to divide because I don’t want all the young kids all together. I will try to mix these things. We want to be competitive. If they are fit, they will play, and we will have the maximum respect for everybody here and for our fans.”
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