Pereira: How United Made Me

Andreas Pereira believes he is learning every day as a Manchester United player and credits the club with helping him mature as both a player and a person.

The midfielder is on the cover of Wednesday night's United Review - the official match programme for the Capital One Cup tie against Middlesbrough - having caught the eye against Ipswich Town in the previous round, when he netted the Reds' second goal with a brilliantly-executed free-kick.

It was a fine way for Pereira to mark his first senior start for the club, with the 19-year-old becoming increasingly involved in the first-team squad this term. He insists he is grateful for the lessons he is learning under Louis van Gaal, having already received a great education at United and PSV Eindhoven, where he spent nine years before arriving at Old Trafford.

"PSV helped me a lot when I was young and United have helped make me the player I am today," says Pereira in an exclusive interview for the programme.

"They gave me everything that I had to learn and I’m learning every day here. At United, they teach me about things off the pitch as well, how to deal with stuff with your family and how to be a man. That part is very important, not just the football side but off the pitch as well. PSV helped me a lot with that too.

“Of course, it’s good to work with the manager here,” he added. “He’ll bring you into the team if you do well and train well. I have a trust with him and it’s a nice feeling to work with someone who will give you the opportunity. If you do something wrong, he will tell you and, if you do something right, he will tell you. He helps you with everything."

Pereira hopes van Gaal will give him another chance to impress the Old Trafford crowd in Wednesday’s meeting with Middlesbrough. If selected, he'd also love a go at scoring from a dead-ball situation again.

“If a free-kick appears and you’ve been practising, you sometimes have a feeling you will score. You feel confident and it’s a very good feeling when the ball goes in,” he explained. “I spend a lot of time practising them, but I also try to improve everything, not especially one thing. I practise my free-kicks, my shooting, my dribbling – everything.

"I hope I get another opportunity [on Wednesday] and I hope I can show the manager and impress everyone in the stadium and my team-mates.”