Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has said that midfielder Andreas Pereira ‘played phenomenally’ during his side’s opening day win over Leicester.
The Manchester United boss has been in sullen mood throughout the summer, bemoaning a lack of transfer activity and a lack of players at his disposal during their pre-season tour of the USA.
Nemanja Matic returned to training with an injury, while Paul Pogba and Marouane Fellaini were given extended breaks due to their World Cup campaigns, the Portuguese boss had limited options in the middle of the park.
However, one man who he turned to was Brazilian youngster Andreas Pereira, who has spent the last two seasons on loan with La Liga sides Granada and Valencia respectively.
Pereira has spent his formative years playing as an attacking midfielder, but Mourinho has seemingly seen something in the 22-year-old which leads him to think he can play as a more deep-lying, combative midfielder – a role in which he excelled in United’s Premier League opener on Friday night.
Having already describing Paul Pogba as a ‘monster’, and praising the performance of Luke Shaw, Mourinho went out of his way to praise the United number 15:
“I don’t want to go without bringing a message about Pereira, ” Mourinho told Sky Sports.
“He was on the bench as a right winger at Valencia and came to Old Trafford as a number 6 and played phenomenally.”