By Vincent Ralph

Joel Pereira's latest loan spell is doing him no favours so far

Manchester United stopper Joel Pereira will know his chances of an Old Trafford breakthrough are very slim.

With David de Gea, Dean Henderson, Lee Grant and Sergio Romero ahead of him in the pecking order, Pereira’s future looks to be away from Old Trafford.

That is no surprise when you consider he has already racked up six loan spells since arriving in Manchester.

But the latest is not what he needs if he wants to impress. After all, since arriving at Huddersfield he has been an unused substitute seven times.

It is no secret that Pereira was signed as a backup. But, at 24, and off the back of a disappointing loan spell in Scotland, the United man really needs to be playing regularly.

Pereira racked up 25 appearances during a temporary stint at Hearts. But things did not go to plan on the field as he shipped 43 goals and managed just five clean sheets.

After a 5-0 hammering in February, the United man was benched and he has not featured for any club since.

Time for a change

Periera will know he doesn’t have a future at United. De Gea has rediscovered his form and Henderson is chomping at the bit for more opportunities.

Romero is likely to move on and Grant is approaching retirement. But Nathan Bishop is coming through and Pereira will not want to be a journeyman loanee in his mid-twenties.

This season he should have gone to a club where he can play regularly and impress potential future employers.

Even if he wanted to catch Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s eye, sitting on the bench is no way to do it.

In his younger years, Pereira was tipped to be United’s next top stopper. But that ship has sailed and he cannot buy a game right now.

A loan should allow regular playing time. But it could be a year or more between the United man’s last first-team outing and his next.

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Vincent Ralph

Vincent is the Senior Managing Editor of Freshered. He was previously Head of Sixth Form at a secondary school in Kent, where he worked with hundreds of 16 to 19-year-olds over eight years.