Is Andreas Pereira's New Positional Versatility the Key to Man Utd Breakthrough?
The week ending December 4, 2016, was an important one for Manchester United loanee Andreas Pereira.
Not only did Granada, the club he’s spending 2016-17 with, secure their first two victories of the season—one in the Copa del Rey and one in La Liga over third-placed Sevilla—but Pereira netted his first goal for the Andalusian outfit.
The timing of his maiden strike could not have been more perfect, as it broke a drought of 12 league games and gave him the chance to show his support for those affected by the tragic events in his native Brazil; he unveiled a #ForcaChape message scrawled on his thermals immediately after netting. Pereira revealed after the game he "had a friend" at the club.
It’s been a choppy season for Granada, who went into Gameweek 14 as the only winless team in La Liga. They’re on their second manager and have already conceded 30 goals—the most in the division. But while the matchday XI has varied wildly from week to week—particularly under former coach Paco Jemez—there have been a select few constants.
Guillermo Ochoa, the goalkeeper, has played every minute (1,260), and Pereira is firmly second in that category, missing just one game and amassing 1,015 minutes on the pitch.
Unlike fellow loanees Jeremie Boga (Chelsea) and Sergi Samper (Barcelona), Pereira has managed to impress two different bosses on a consistent basis, and he remains one of the first names on manager Lucas Alcaraz’s teamsheet. Given the storm of a season El Grana have had to navigate, it’s testament to the Brazilian that he’s been able to keep his balance on deck.
On Saturday, in his stellar performance against Sevilla, Pereira added another layer to his game. He played as one of the two forward-thinking midfielders in a 4-3-3, and not once did he look out of place.
Generally, managers have tended to deploy him as a No. 10 or as a left-winger, likely because of his slight physique and higher-risk style of play. But Alcaraz dropped him in among Matias Kranevitter and Steven N’Zonzi and commanded him to sink or swim. He chose the latter.
Pereira’s best assets are his mobility, agility, quick feet and mazy dribbling. He’s also an excellent crosser, which translates to his set pieces; most of Granada’s recent goals have come from his corners, free-kicks or wide deliveries, with the second goal against Sevilla perhaps the prime example of this trend.
From a raw scouting perspective, he’s the archetypal No. 10 who thrives between the lines and beats players one-on-one to create space.
Despite showcasing these talents for Manchester United’s reserves and Brazil’s U20 World Cup team in 2015, successive managers at Old Trafford have shown a reluctance to throw him in. Perhaps Louis van Gaal tarred him with the same brush as every other member of the infamous 4-0 defeat to MK Dons in 2014—none of the players who played in that game lasted long under the Dutchman bar David De Gea, and perhaps Jose Mourinho felt it easier to follow suit.
It also doesn’t help that hundreds of millions of pounds are spent in his area of the pitch every year in a bid to improve fast.
But perhaps showcasing positional versatility renews Pereira's lease of life at Manchester United. When dabbling with the 4-3-3, Mourinho has been rewarded with some excellent performances, and it feels as though time spent in the 4-2-3-1 should be cut far shorter.
Playing in a similarly styled 4-3-3 on Saturday, Pereira showed every quality you’d want. He snapped about, pressured Sevilla in possession, kept it simple when required to allow Granada to build sustained periods of possession and conjured the all-important first goal, converting a reasonably difficult finish after Boga's brilliant run.
It felt like the first game of the season in which Pereira’s flashes of brilliance and continued effort were truly rewarded. For it to happen on that specific weekend will have meant all the more to him, as he was able to show his support for his country. Under Alcaraz, Granada look more stable, and that has helped the 20-year-old no end.
The defensive mistakes are largely gone, the team has stopped shooting itself in the foot and there aren’t 15 passages of play per game in which the ball flies from one end to the other in a matter of seconds.
Some Granada attackers, such as Mehdi Carcela-Gonzalez and Boga, will have seen this as advantageous to their respective games, but Pereira’s thriving under the calmer Alcaraz regime.
It's no secret that a large section of United’s fanbase are desperate for Pereira to succeed and show his worth, as they’ve envisioned a place for him in the first team and badly want the Brazilian to be strutting his stuff as a Red Devil in the future.
They’ve seen his highlight reel from the U20 World Cup, and they understandably want more of those moments.
The qualities he’s showing now give him every chance come 2017-18. Granada may still be in La Liga’s relegation zone, but they’re waking up after a deep autumn slumber, and Pereira is at the forefront of the bleary-eyed emergence.
If he continues to apply himself, work hard and show fresh edges to his skill set, United fans' hopes that they’ll see him lighting up Old Trafford might not be in vain after all.
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