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Scouting the Start of Andreas Pereira’s Loan from Manchester United to Granada
- Updated: October 7, 2016
Manchester United’s Andreas Pereira has made a good start to life on loan at Granada.
The Brazil under-20 international clearly needs high-level first-team football this season given he is now 20 years old. Another season around the fringes of United’s squad would not have done him a lot of good.
Pereira’s is a curious case. In an interview with podcast Beyond the Pitch (h/t Manchester Evening News) in September, he spoke of his frustration with former manager Louis van Gaal’s handling of his career: “Every player wants to play, and I was disappointed I couldn’t play more minutes. I trusted the manager, and it didn’t happen as I wanted it to. But that’s life, and I’ll learn from that as well.”
Jon Super/Associated Press Pereira was not happy with his treatment at Van Gaal’s hands.
The implication was Pereira had expected more time in the playing squad based on the signals his then-manager had sent than he received. The most confusing thing about the whole situation was United were crying out for invention and creativity for much of the time he was on the sidelines.
And after Pereira played well against Ipswich Town in the then-League Cup in Sept. 2015, he looked ready for a higher level.
Shortly after that game, he had a cameo against Wolfsburg in the UEFA Champions League at Old Trafford. It was a bad decision on Van Gaal’s part to bring the youngster on when he did. United were under a lot of pressure for the last part of that match, and there was a slight thrown-to-the-wolves quality about the substitution.
Loan watch: Andreas Pereira last night against Bilbao pic.twitter.com/mmcZrSbAF0
— Man Utd Videos ⚽️ (@ManUtdVines) September 22, 2016
After that, his involvement was pretty limited.
Unlike Van Gaal’s peculiar treatment of Pereira, boss Jose Mourinho’s decision to send him on loan made plenty of sense. The summer arrival of Henrikh Mkhitaryan knocked the youngster another notch down the pecking order, and Mourinho has historically preferred a small squad.
Marcus Rashford and Timothy Fosu-Mensah seem to be the Portuguese manager’s concessions to the pressure to play young players at United, with other promising talents sent for loan spells.
So far, it is working for Pereira in spite of his loan club’s struggles. Granada have played six league games since his arrival, and the United loanee has featured in each, starting the last five in succession. He has an assist to his name, earned during El Grana’s 3-1 defeat to Alaves.
Bleacher Report’s Sam Tighe said of Pereira’s start in Spain: “Granada have been hilariously …
