Man Utd make major Pellistri and Elanga decision

Robin Bairner

• 13 Mar 2023 12:35 GMT
• 3 min read

Manchester United have made a major decision over the future of young stars Facundo Pellistri and Anthony Elanga, according to a report in the Manchester Evening News.

There were high hopes that the youngsters, who are 21 and 20 years old respectively, would have a major impact at Old Trafford this season, yet they have had limited match time.

Neither has made a significant impression. Elanga, who enjoyed something of a breakout campaign in 2021/22 has featured on 23 occasions but has featured for just 650 minutes having often been restricted to the role of a late substitute. He has not scored for the Red Devils in this time.

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Pellistri, meanwhile, has turned out on six occasions as a replacement, with a mere total of 102 minutes of playing time. He featured more for Uruguay in the World Cup than he has for United under Erik ten Hag. Indeed, he has yet to start a match at Old Trafford.

With the Red Devils set to strengthen over the summer and already possessing a plethora of high-quality wide attacking options, it is little surprise that loan deals will be explored for Pellistri and Elanga, who are both in need of additional first-team exposure to help their games develop.

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Elanga, for example, has yet to play any senior football anywhere other than Man Utd, where it will be hard for him to earn regular minutes.

Pellistri, on the other hand, began his career at Penarol before moving to Old Trafford for €8.5 million. He has subsequently had two loan spells with Alaves in Spain.

The Amad Diallo example

Ten Hag will hope that both players are able to follow in the footsteps of Amad Diallo, who had a difficult start to life at Old Trafford and even struggled in a loan move at Rangers before Sunderland took him on loan in the summer.

The 20-year-old has shone in the Championship, scoring eight goals in 28 games to potentially rekindle his hopes of regular first-team football with Man Utd.