Manchester United attacker Facundo Pellistri has said that the 2022-23 campaign will be "very important" for his development following a frustrating period at Alaves.
The 20-year-old joined the Red Devils from Penarol in October 2020, but he is yet to make his first-team debut for the club, spending two separate loan periods at Alaves.
Pellistri spent the second half of the 2020-21 campaign on loan at Alaves before returning to the La Liga side for 2021-22, and he made 34 appearances for the club in all competitions.
The Uruguayan failed to score or register an assist during his time in Spain, though, and found it difficult to secure regular action.
Pellistri has been named in Man United's 31-man squad for their pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia, but it is unclear whether he is in the plans of head coach Erik ten Hag for the 2022-23 season.
© Reuters
The youngster has said that he 'wants to feel good again' and is eyeing "maximum continuity of minutes" next season in order to continue his development.
"Right now, I want to feel good again after the holidays, well-trained, more than anything because this year is very important both at club and national team level," he told Ovacion.
"You have to be ready for everything and prepare well. I want to have the maximum continuity of minutes to try to arrive well.
"I'm not looking for a particular league. It's easy to say 'earn minutes' because nobody promises them to you, and you have to earn them. It's a complicated search, but I'm going to try to find the best option to play, show myself and feel good."
Pellistri has also conceded that he was frustrated for long spells of his time at Alaves, starting just six La Liga matches for the Basque club during the 2021-22 season.
© Reuters
"I didn't leave Alaves very happy, because I hardly played in any games. I left with a wonderful club, a wonderful group of people, a wonderful medical team and a wonderful staff. In that sense, even though it was complicated in terms of football, that whole period in Vitoria was wonderful," he added.
"They never gave me a reason, but well? Every manager is different. Maybe they liked different things to what I could give them, and that's totally respectable.
"It's up to the coach to decide. I always gave my best, I trained 100%, and I was ready to play. The balance is negative. I would have liked to play more."
Pellistri's agent Agustin Alvarez recently told Grand Hotel Calciomercato: "He has a contract until 2026. He will make the pre-season retreat with Manchester and will take part in the tour in Asia.
"He [Ten Hag] will decide, if he will stay or if he will be loaned out. In the latter case we have several possibilities between England, Italy and Portugal thanks also to the performance we had with the Uruguayan national team, where the coach [Diego] Alonso who gave him the confidence that Alaves lacked."
The Uruguay international has netted three times and registered one assist in eight outings for Man United Under-23s and could make his first-team debut against Liverpool on July 12.
Matt Law
