Edgardo Lasalvia, agent of young Manchester United winger Facundo Pellistri, has confirmed the forward’s summer plans ahead of Erik ten Hag’s first pre-season as Red Devil manager.
The Uruguayan forward was signed back in the summer window of 2020 from Peñarol for a fee of around £7.65 million. He spent four months at the club with the United U21 side, starting 6 Premier League 2 fixtures, scoring twice and providing one assist.
In January 2021, it was decided that Pellistri would spend the remainder of the season on loan at Spanish side Deportivo Alaves, where the youngster would learn to ply his trade in a top five league first team setting before potentially upgrading to the Manchester United first team the season after.
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In the 2020/21 season while in Spain however, Pellistri only played a total of 531 minutes of football across 12 matches – not enough to give him the proper experience he needed to get back to Manchester and properly get going within the first team squad.
So it was then decided that the young man would yet again go back to Spain with Alaves, and this time spent a full season in a country he had become familiar with and a squad he had become accustomed to; and the results were far better. Pellistri played a total of 23 times for the club that season with 21 of those being La Liga fixtures, and his performances earned him a call up to the Uruguayan national team.
Pellistri has earned three caps for his country so far, picking up an assist against Mexico in a 3-0 win on his debut.
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Now that he has spent two years in Europe acclimitising to the higher level of football, the time has come whether to decide if he should yet again go on loan to further gain match-level experience or if he is ready to fight his way into Erik ten Hag’s new squad.
Speaking on Pellistri’s future, his agent Edgardo Lasalvia has revealed that the current plan is to take part in the club’s pre-season tour.
"He has a contract until 2026,” ‘El Chino’ explains. “He will make the pre-season retreat with Manchester and will take part in the tour of Asia where he will also face Liverpool. (Erik ten Hag) will decide his future, if he will stay or if he will be loaned out.”
Pellistri took part in last season’s pre-season tour, earning plaudits for performances against the likes of Wayne Rooney’s Derby County, where he rounded the goalkeeper to score a lovely goal.
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However despite these performances last summer, it was still decided that he should go back out on loan, and should that be the case again this summer, Lasalvia has confirmed that there are plenty of offers on the table from around Europe for the young man’s services.
“We have several possibilities between England, Italy and Portugal thanks also to the performance we had with the Uruguayan national team, with the coach Alonso who gave him confidence.”
There is no doubt that Facundo Pellistri will be looking to make a good first impression under Erik ten Hag.
As always when a new manager is appointed, it becomes almost a clean slate for all players involved, as a new manager creates a more level playing-field to impress said new boss.
With Manchester United fielding a lot of impressive young winger and midfield talent such as Anthony Elanga, Jadon Sancho and Hannibal Mejbri as well as the returning Amad Diallo, Pellistri will have a lot of competition to face in order to catch the eye of Ten Hag.
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Nevertheless, the young winger will get his chance to impress the new boss during Manchester United’s pre-season tour which starts in Bangkok on the 12 July, where Manchester United play Liverpool before heading off to Australia to play a series of games against Crystal Palace, Aston Villa and Melbourne Victory.
The ‘Tour 2022’ will conclude with two games in two days against two Spanish sides, the first being a trip to Oslo in Norway to face Atletico Madrid before heading back to Manchester to face Rayo Vallecano at Old Trafford.
The Premier League opening weekend sees Manchester United face Brighton & Hove Albion in what will be Erik ten Hag’s opening competitive fixture as the new manager of the Red Devils.
Featured Image Credit: AlamyTopics: Facundo Pellistri, Manchester United, Manchester United Transfer News & Rumours, Erik Ten Hag, Transfers, Football