Yesterday we spoke about Lee Grant and Jesse Lingard and today we turn our attention to other two players. Andreas Pereira and Marcos Rojo come next, in a nice South American mix of Brazil and Argentina.
Considering that neither of the two players made a huge impact last season, nor had some great amount of playing time, we decided to merge them into the same story.
Appearances across all competitions
Andreas Pereira made 23 appearances across four competitions, 15 of those coming in Premier League and four in Champions League. However, with 951 minutes spent on the pitch, Pereira averaged less than a half-time per appearance, mostly due to often coming on as a substitute.
However, one match last season was particularly good one for Pereira. The Brazilian scored and assisted in Man United’s 3-2 win over Southampton in a thrilling match. Those are the only goal contributions from Pereira last season, but overall he did not offer much. He was mostly used as a backup to the first team, getting chances bit by bit. The fact that Pereira never started two consecutive Premier League matches shows just how little impact he made on the team and where he stood in the pecking order. With midfielders like Paul Pogba, Ander Herrera, Fred and Nemanja Matic in the team, he was never the first choice in central midfield, whilst further up the pitch there were also Juan Mata, Jesse Lingard, Marcus Rashford and others. Even Scott McTominay had far more impact on this team than him, something that was certainly not expected when the last season started.
On the other hand, Marcos Rojo played even less than Pereira. Between the constant injuries and poor performances on the pitch, it was no wonder that the Argentine defender made just six appearances. Five of them came in Premier League and one in the Champions League, while he also played twice in Premier League 2. In the six appearances for the first team, his playing time amounted to 256 minutes.
Did they perform above or below the expectations?
It is safe to say that Marcos Rojo played below his expectations, even though they were not high anyway. For Pereira would be a tougher task to say what were the expectations for him, but obviously, he did not fulfil them either. At 23, he is stagnating and still far from the starting XI at Man United. It looks like he is still not ready to offer what Man Untied need at this point and it is a big question nowadays what is his ‘ceiling’.
Will they be part of Manchester United during the 2019-20 season?
It remains to be seen, at least for Marcos Rojo. Man United are reportedly ready to sell him for 25 million pounds, but it is an understatement saying such asking price is too high. It is hard to believe anyone would pay that and if Devils really want to sell Rojo, they will have to lower their asking price.
On the other hand, Andreas Pereira signed his last contract extension in March and it runs until June 2023. With Man United severely lacking in numbers in midfield positions, Pereira is expected to stay at Old Trafford, though the playing time for him is not guaranteed.
Leave a Reply