Facundo Pellistri scored his first goal for Manchester United as the U23s defeated Southampton in the Premier League 2.
The Uruguayan is continuing to impress United’s coaches with his recent improvements in training after a strong introduction to the U23s side.
“He’s still settling in,” Manchester United U23s manager Neil Wood told MEN Sport. “He’s been training with us this week and it has probably helped him being out on the pitch because he’s got a better relationship with the players on the pitch and he understands their game more because he’s training more with them. That can only help him.
“I thought he showed an improvement again [against Southampton] with his performance and he probably could have had another goal after he hit the crossbar. He said it bobbled up, next time he scores it.
“He is progressing nicely but I don’t want to put too much pressure on him. He is working hard, trying to take in as much information as he can.”
Pellistri, 18, joined the Red Devils on transfer deadline day for £9m after coming through at Penarol.
He had only made his breakthrough in Uruguayan football but United were desperate to get a deal done, even though he was always expected to play in the U23s side before making a big jump to the first team.
It went down as a first team signing, so United are giving the youngster time to settle before they throw him head first into the deep end.
There has been a sense of maturity and eagerness about his game since arriving in England, and it was his first goal that helped United in our 3-1 win over Southampton on Friday night.
The teenager will be hoping he can keep impressing while playing for the U23s because that will fast-track his route into Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s plans as we’ve seen with Mason Greenwood and Brandon Williams.
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