Porto president Pinto da Costa has suggested Alex Telles’ key motivation behind forcing through a Manchester United transfer was to gain further international recognition.
Telles had made just one appearance for Brazil before his deadline day Old Trafford switch, but featured twice over the intentional break.
As per BBC Sport, United signed Telles for a fee of 15m euros (£13.6m) plus 2m euros (£1.8m) in add-ons and the 27-year-old has committed to a four-year deal at the club.
Telles adds great strength in depth in the left-back position and should provide immediate competition for out-of-sorts Luke Shaw who has made a poor start to the new season.
The Reds managed to prize Telles away from Porto when he had just a year left on his contract, and Da Costa has revealed the full-back told him of his desire to play more for Brazil when discussing his exit.
“I’m never satisfied when a good player leaves,” Da Costa told TV1, as quoted by the Manchester Evening News.
Look, a big sale that I was disgusted with was Hulk’s and it was a big deal. There are times when we have no other solution.
“A week or two earlier, Alex’s sister, who’s the agent, expressed his desire to leave. A week before closing the market, he asked to leave because he really wanted to go to Manchester United.
“I tried not to let him go, I tried to compensate him, even if it was to stay until the end of the year. But it’s not possible to keep a player who takes over publicly and before me and my management he wanted to leave.”
“The argument for leaving was that the current coach of Brazil only called players from three or four championships. I tried to contradict because he is currently in the national team.”
Of course, United is a fantastic platform to impress on a global stage and Telles has the potential to become his nation’s first choice left-back if he displaces Shaw in Solskjaer’s preferred starting XI.
Telles could make his United debut on Saturday evening as the Reds take on Newcastle United at St James’ Park.
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