Manchester United are reportedly set to miss out on £12million in valuable transfer funds this summer after Flamengo changed their minds on signing Andreas Pereira.
Pereira is currently on loan with the Brazilian club and has made 34 appearances across all competitions so far this season. Flamengo’s loan deal for the 26-year-old midfielder has the option for his stay to become permanent for a fee which could reach £12m, depending on appearances.
Pereira has been a United player since 2011, having joined the club from PSV Eindhoven as a highly-rated 15-year-old. After coming through the youth ranks, his career at Old Trafford has never taken off, with United sending him on loan to Granada, Valencia, Lazio and now Flamengo.
United had been hopeful that Flamengo would take Pereira off their hands permanently to aid a squad overhaul this summer. But according to ESPN the Brazilian club have now backtracked and are preparing to abandon their plans to sign him.
Pereira is under contract with United until June 2023, but appears to have no future at the club who are preparing for the arrival of a new manager this summer. The Brazil international has made 75 appearances for the club, contributing four goals and five assists.
He has five goals and one assist for Flamengo this season and reportedly would be happy to move to Rio de Janeiro on a permanent basis, even if it means taking a pay cut. But it appears that a high-profile mistake in the Copa Libertadores final defeat against Palmerias last November could prove costly for United.
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The recent cooling of interest from Flamengo could merely be a bargaining tactic, given club president Rodolfo Landim’s recent comments about the midfielder. “Andreas is a Flamengo player until the middle of the year," Landim told Globo Esporte in March.
“We have a contract with him and we like the player. We’ve already had several conversations with Manchester United. I can only say that Flamengo really likes the player and eventually we will be able to count on him. It’s what we want.”
That stance also mirrors what Pereira’s father said late last year. “I think that today is the best moment in his career, not only on the field, but in the locker room, in the club,” Marcos Pereira told Esporte Espetacular . “In today’s conditions, I think it’s difficult for him to return to Europe, in case Flamengo wants to keep him.”
United remain keen to sell Pereira, but may have to do so at a lower fee. One thing is certain: Pereira is not the only player poised to leave United this summer. Paul Pogba, Jesse Lingard and Edinson Cavani are all out of contract on July 1, while there are doubts over the likes of Donny van de Beek, Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford.
