For the last few years, Andreas Pereira has been hotly tipped to enjoy huge success in Manchester United red.
The brilliant Brazilian has spent the last two seasons on loan out in Spain where he’s continued to impress, however, he’s 22 now and it certainly feels like it’s now or never for the attacking midfielder.
Jose Mourinho’s clearly a fan of Pereira, with the star repaying that faith with some sensible displays while on pre-season tour in the United States. Although right now, I’m not sure the Red Devils can give him the minutes that his talents deserve.
Where would he play?
His best position is just in-behind the striker, in the #10 role. Mourinho has an abundance of options in that area, with Jesse Lingard, Juan Mata and now Alexis Sanchez all capable. Is Pereira going to displace any of those guys at this point in his career? I highly doubt it.
Then you have to hope that next season we’d be switching to a 4-3-3 formation, which takes out the ‘#10 role’ in favour of an extra box-to-box midfielder. Sure, Pereira can fill that void, but is he physical enough to the dirty work? I don’t think so.
Another option for Pereira would be to play as a winger. Again though, competition aplenty greets him. Perhaps his way in would be to re-model his game as a right-sided attacker as that’s the area in the team that could well be up for grabs over the summer, but I’m not sure that position suits his best attributes.
Would he be happy with a bit-part role?
Well, considering it was Pereira’s idea to move away on loan again, despite the fact that Mourinho wanted him to stick around, I highly doubt he’d be happy with a handful of starts in the cup competitions.
The young man wants to feature in every single game and you cannot blame him for that. Sometimes, though, there just isn’t any space. I genuinely cannot see United handing a serious amount of Premier League minutes to Pereira next season unless catastrophic injuries happen.
Should he move on?
I think the ball will be in his court, but I believe it makes sense for all involved to transfer him if the right offer comes in. Pereira will be getting an increase in minutes, United would get a decent transfer fee and the eventual buying club would be getting one heck of a footballer.
Edward Woodward should insert a buy-back clause in any deal, however, because we wouldn’t want another Paul Pogba situation to come back and sting us where money is concerned. For now, though, it makes sense to sell him, although it’s an unfortunate situation.
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