Jose Mourinho confirms Joel Pereira will leave on loan

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho has confirmed that goalkeeper Joel Pereira will be sent out on loan for the 2018/19 campaign. The Portuguese footballer has barely featured for the Red Devils being their third-choice goalkeeper and Mourinho has now indicated that the shot-stopper would be loaned out with Lee Grant coming in to take up his position.

Speaking in a press conference in Los Angeles, he said: “We did Lee Grant because we have a fantastic young goalkeeper (Joel Pereira) who needs to play football. Joel is a Manchester United goalkeeper but, two years without football, he has to play. And to protect that position we got Lee with experience in Championship and Stoke City in the Premier League, so he is ready to fulfil that position. Joel is here with us. It’s good for him to play but then he will go on loan.”

Pereira has previously been hailed by Mourinho as one of the best Portuguese goalkeepers of the current generation and the 22-year-old now has the opportunity to impress on a season-long loan elsewhere before jumping up the grades at Old Trafford. At present, both David de Gea and Sergio Romero seem to have no plans of parting ways but things could change in the future with the latter, in particular, said to be frustrated with the restricted gametime under Mourinho.

Aside from Grant, United have made two more signings during the ongoing transfer window with Fred and Diogo Dalot arriving from Shakhtar Donetsk and Porto respectively. Brazil international Fred is expected to report for first-team training before the start of the new league season but the same cannot be said of Dalot, who has been sidelined until August after undergoing a knee surgery with former club Porto. United begin their league campaign with a home game versus Leicester City.