'Got a diamond' - How Manchester United trialist has turned into League Two star man

The 21-year-old former Manchester United trialist opened the scoring inside three minutes at the Peninsula Stadium on Tuesday night when his strike from the edge of the box found the bottom corner. Swindon equalised five minutes into the second half through Harry Smith, but The Ammies retook the lead after 69 minutes when substitute Jon Taylor volleyed home from an attempted clearance.

N’Mai spent time on trial with United and City before joining the Ammies and then was also given a runout for United’s Under-21s in a game against Leicester back in May 2023. His impressive Salford performances saw him sign a new two-year deal with the club in July.

Robinson said: “Kelly N’Mai was the best player on the pitch by a mile, he’s been the best player for us since the start of the season. Him, Luke Garbutt, and Stephan Negru are the three that have been consistently good. We have got a diamond, but we want to look after him and we will. He’s someone if you’re looking from the outside in, there’ll be a lot of eyes watching him.”

Salford’s fourth win from the opening 12 league games lifted them into 15th in League Two, but they remain the league’s second-lowest scorers with 10 goals. Speaking on Salford City’s YouTube channel, Robinson said: “I thought we were excellent for large parts of the game, as the game went on we got better and better. That’s not the best we've played, we could have gone on and scored multiple goals, but it just wasn’t to be. Moving forward I want more, I’ll demand more because the squad is certainly good enough, but we have got to be better than we were this evening.”

The Ammies return to action on Saturday lunchtime at 20th-placed Colchester, before a trip to Fleetwood Town on Tuesday.

“Massive games, statement games for me,” said Robinson. “Laying the gauntlet down, go and show me how good you are because we recruited well. We have got to find a better fluidity and more dominance in the final third, but I do believe it’ll come.”