Andreas Pereira has become the second former Manchester United player to reveal he avoided crunch talks with Erik ten Hag to ensure he left the club last summer.
The Brazilian ace ended his 11-year stay at Old Trafford in July as he made the £10million switch to Fulham following their promotion to the Premier League. Pereira joined the world-famous United academy at the age of 16 and went onto make 75 senior appearances for the Red Devils.
However, Pereira felt that it was the time to move on as he never really established himself as a first-team regular at the club despite scoring some stunning goals. During his time at Craven Cottage, Pereira has scored twice and provided six assists in 27 Premier League matches - but stats don't tell the fully story.
He has been a key figure in a Fulham side that were tipped for relegation at the start of the season, but now find themselves on the cusp of the European places. Pereira, who has impressed this term, explained why he decided to make the switch to west London.
Ahead of Fulham's trip to United in the FA Cup quarter-finals, Pereira told ESPN : "I didn't speak with Ten Hag. I know him because I worked with him at PSV but I was determined in my head and maybe if I spoke with the manager again I would stay. In my head I was thinking 'I need to go, I need to feel confident and play' and that’s what I did.
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"At United I had a lot of memories; good memories, bad memories. It’s been 10 years at the club. I arrived when I was 16 so, you know, a young boy. It was an amazing ride but I got to the stage where I thought maybe it was best not to stay. I wanted to feel more loved and I wanted to play every game. What Fulham offered me and what [manager] Marco [Silva] offered me, it was the perfect opportunity."
Dean Henderson was the first United player to come out and admit he refused to enter showdown talks with Ten Hag as he was set on moving onto pastures new. The 26-year-old, who made the season-long loan move to Nottingham Forest back in August, claimed that he didn't speak to Ten Hag before leaving United.
"I didn't want the manager to come in and be able to see me in training. I knew he'd probably want to keep me, so I tried to do it all before I left for the season. I told all the hierarchy I need to go and play football, I don't want to be here playing second fiddle," he told talkSPORT.
"It was all planned out. I was almost gone before the manager came through the door and I haven't spoken to him since. To be honest with you, it's probably been the toughest 12 months of my career. It's been tough, it's been hard and I'm so happy I've got out the other end of it. I'm so excited to be here and ready to go."
