Facundo Pellistri is looking forward to Manchester United’s pre-season tour after his loan spell at Alaves did not turn out how everyone had hoped.
Pellistri was signed by Manchester United for a fee just shy of £8 million from Uruguayan side Peñarol in 2020, and is yet to have much of a settled run in the side.
After signing for the club, Pellistri spent the first few months playing for the club’s U23 side in Premier League 2, where he featured in six matches, scoring twice and assisting once.
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Once January came around, manager at the time Ole Gunnar Solskjær wanted to see the player test his abilities in a professional top five league, and eventually it was agreed that the young winger would spend the rest of the season on loan at Alavés.
The winger would go on to re-sign for the Spanish club again on loan the following summer.
Speaking on returning to Manchester United for pre-season training, Pellistri detailed: “Right now I want to feel good again after the holidays, well trained, more than anything because this year is very important both at club and national team level. You have to be ready for everything and prepare well.
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"I want to have the maximum continuity of minutes to try to get there well.”
It has been theorised that Pellistri will most likely be sent on loan again this coming season, with the winger only just turning 20 years of age in December of last year and therefore needing as much experience as possible.
"I'm not looking for a particular league,” detailed Pellistri. “It's easy to say 'earn minutes', because nobody promises them to you and you have to earn them. It is a complicated search, but I am going to try to find the best option to play, show myself and feel good.”
Although he spent a season and a half at the club, his time at Alavés was not as productive as many would have hoped, as he only played 34 matches across the two seasons.
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“I didn't leave Alavés very happy, because I almost didn't participate in the games,” admitted the Uruguayan. “I take with me a wonderful club, human group, medical staff and staff. In that sense, as much as it was complicated in terms of football, that whole stage in Vitoria was wonderful.”
“They never gave me a reason (as to why he didn’t play), but well... Every manager is different.
“Over there they liked things other than what I could give them and it is totally respectable. It is the coach who decides. I always gave my best, I trained 100% and I was ready to play. The balance, negative. I would have liked to play more.”
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On making a decision about his future, he has confirmed that he will speak with Uruguay’s head coach Diego Alonso, before finalising how he wants to proceed.
“His opinion is very important to me, whenever I can I try to consult him... He advised me that it is important to play and emphasize those details that would make me more complete.
“He tells me that I have a good one on one, but to emphasize the final pass. He tells me to try to fight for places in good leagues, to train to the fullest and that if you give football, football gives you.”
Continuing to speak praises about Alsonso, Pellsitri proclaimed, “He is a very good person. Respectful. He is like the perfect combo of a manager that you respect a lot; some joke around and you consider him just another capable player and you don't respect him as much.
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“He is the right mix of making jokes if jokes have to be made, of shooting penalties, making definitions with us, like when you have to work. He has a presence that I think is always needed for a group to follow the same line.”
Facundo Pellsitri will be looking to make an impression on Erik ten Hag during Tour 2022, was part of the squad that yesterday traveled to Bangkok ahead of the club’s first pre-season fixture against Liverpool on 12 July.
The club are then due to face Melbourne Victory, Aston Villa and Crystal Palace on the Australian leg of the tour, before heading back to Europe to face Atletico Madrid in Oslo on 30 July before finalising the trip with a face-off against Rayo Vallecano at Old Trafford the following day.
Ten Hag then leads his new squad into the official 2022/23 Premier League season with a match-up against Brighton & Hove Albion the following weekend on Sunday 7 August.
Topics: Manchester United, Manchester United Transfer News & Rumours, Facundo Pellistri, Football, Transfers
Dylan Penketh