Romero Delighted By New United Deal

Sergio Romero will play his first game of 2017/18 against Real Salt Lake, fresh from signing a long-term contract at the club he has grown to love since joining two years ago.

The Argentina international became a Red in the summer of 2015 but undoubtedly experienced his best season in the campaign just gone, after registering 18 appearances and playing a crucial role in winning the UEFA Europa League by making 12 starts in that competition alone (including the final).

It was announced on Sunday that Romero has inked a new four-year deal that will keep him at United until 2021, and the personable 30-year-old is delighted and proud to have signed.

“I am very happy because when I started with the club, I quickly realised it is fantastic and it is the biggest club in the world,” the goalkeeper told MUTV. “I am really happy to prolong my career here.

“I think the last year was a fantastic time for us,” Sergio continued. “We won the Europa League, I played a lot of games for the team and my expectation for this year is to continue in this direction for helping the group. The manager has given me a lot of confidence and for me it is very good. It would be very nice to stay at Manchester United for a long time.”

Jose Mourinho has three excellent goalkeepers at his disposal in first-choice stopper David De Gea, the impressively dependable Romero and highly-rated Portuguese youngster Joel Pereira.

Witnessing them training together at the UCLA facility in Los Angeles this week only emphasises how close a unit the trio are, and Romero insists that dynamic is crucial to all of their success.

“I have two fantastic goalkeepers with me. Every day we can improve and improve and improve for ourselves. We are three, with Joel and David, and that is very important for the group, not only me.”

Expanding further on the squad’s spirit and togetherness, Sergio said: “For me when you have players in the group like Pogba, Lukaku, Mata or Herrera. It is very important in the training for confidence.

"You can improve, I can make myself better for every match and every day. It is a fantastic group. The harmony is fantastic and we have a lot of confidence for this season.”

The match against Real Salt Lake will kick off at 20:00 local time on Monday night and 04:00 BST on Tuesday morning. It is the second outing of Tour 2017, presented by Aon, as the Reds ramp up preparations for the much-anticipated campaign, which offers the chance of further glory.

“You can see the weather is fantastic here,” Romero told us. “We have good training session, it is fantastic, we work a lot, we work hard and it is important for the rest of the year. We have four or five competitions and Manchester United has to finish in the best positions.”

After completing his entire MUTV interview in near-perfect English, having taken lessons for the last two season, Romero then showed his class and humility with this closing statement.

“Thank you very much,” he said down the lens to watching supporters. “And sorry for my English.”