Tagged: Andreas Pereira
Andreas Pereira tipped to make it big at Manchester United by teammates Fellaini and Januzaj| Analysis’
London, June 22 (IANS) Brazilian football talent Andreas Pereira has been tipped to achieve great things at Manchester United by his club teammates Adnan Januzaj and Marouane Fellaini. The 19-year-old shone for Brazil in the recent Under-20 World Cup in New Zealand, scoring a superb solo goal in the final before marginally missing out on winning the trophy to Serbia.
And having made his English Premier League debut against Tottenham in March, coming on as a 77th-minute substitute for Juan Mata in a 3-0 win for United, Januzaj and Fellaini believe that will be the first of many appearances Pereira makes for the Red Devils.
Pereira signed a contract extension in May to keep him at United until 2018 amid interest from Paris Saint-Germain, and Fellaini is delighted that the club is committed to retaining the teenager.
“Andreas is a big talent. I think the club did everything to sign him up to a contract because a lot of teams wanted him. He has to continue like that, to work hard and to keep going and try to win his place,” Fellaini was quoted as saying by dailymail.co.uk on Monday.
Januzaj, who was named United’s U-21 Player of the Year in 2013, saw Pereira pick up this year’s award.
He added that, “It is always good to win your own prize and your own trophy. He just has to work hard and when the chance comes to him, he should take it. Andreas is a very good player, he has a lot of good qualities and he can be a great player for United.”
Manchester United starlet Andreas Pereira ready to follow famous names at the Under-20 World Cup
Brazilian midfielder, who has just signed a new three-year contract at Old Trafford, will play for Brazil at the tournament in New Zealand.
Andreas Pereira will be Manchester United’s sole representative at the Under-20 World Cup when it kicks-off this weekend.
And five players will be representing Manchester at the biennial tournament in New Zealand.
Three Manchester City players will feature for African countries – Kelechi Iheanacho and Chidiebere Nwakali for Nigeria and Yaw Yeboah for Ghana. Marcos Lopes will play for Portugal.
Pereira, who has signed a new three-year deal at United, will be representing Brazil.
A total of 13 players will be going to New Zealand from eight different English clubs, with England having failed to qualify.
In addition to the four from Manchester, Tottenham are sending three players and Fulham two, while Arsenal, Brentford, Ipswich and West Ham are all sending one.
But do many Under-20 World Cup players ever make it to the big time?
Well, yes, they do.
The last tournament in 2013 saw none other than Juventus starlet Paul Pogba win the golden boot, awarded to the tournament’s best player.
That same year also saw Harry Kane and Ross Barkley both featured for England and Chelsea’s Kurt Zouma play for France.
The 2011 tournament in Colombia saw Real Madrid star James Rodriguez represent his country, he was playing for Porto at the time.
Atletico Madrid’s Antoine Griezmann played for France, while Erik Lamela represented Argentina and Philippe Coutinho, then at Inter Milan, turned out for Brazil.
The 2007 tournament saw Sergio Aguero crowned best player ahead of Argentina teammate Angel Di Maria and Chile’s Alexis Sanchez.
Di Maria and Sanchez were both still playing in South America at the time for Rosario Central and Colo-Colo respectively.
The 2007 tournament was packed full of stars who represent some of Europe’s biggest clubs at the moment, but were still at relatively small clubs at the time.
Arturo Vidal of Juventus fame was still playing for Chilean side Colo-Colo, Luis Suarez was still at Dutch side Groningen, Edinson Cavani was at Palermo, David Luiz was at Vitoria, Robert Snodgrass at Livingston, and Javier Hernandez was at Guadalajara,
Gerard Pique, Juan Mata, and Willian were all also at the tournament though at larger clubs.
The 2005 tournament was also a bumper year for world class talent.
That year saw none other than Lionel Messi win the golden ball.
David Silva, Cesc Fabregas , Sergio Aguero, Radamel Falcao, Pablo Zabaleta, Fernando Llorente and Graziano Pelle also played that year.
Of course, not every big star at the Under 20 tournament makes it to the upper echelons of European football.
The 2013 top scorer, Ebenezer Assifuah now plays for Swiss side FC Sion, while the runner-up for the golden ball that year, Nicolas Lopez, is at Italian side Hellas Verona.
Brazil’s Henrique won best player in 2011 but is at Rio side Botafogo, and Dominic Adiyiah, who won the golden ball in 2009, now turns out for Thai side Nakhon Ratchasima.
SportsEye.ug 