Andreas Pereira has explained why he has opted to have the name ‘Andreas’ on the back of shirt in 2018/19.
The midfielder, who returned to the club after a loan spell with Valencia and is pushing for more minutes in the first team after a bright start to the campaign, is similar to Alexis Sanchez in respect of the choice of name.
Hear from the man himself on why he wears 'Andreas' on his shirt...
Although a now fully fledged Brazil international, the 22-year-old has revealed to us that the reasoning is not in keeping with the South American country’s tradition of often using a single name – such as is the case with team-mate Fred.
”It’s because a lot of players have Pereira,” he told MUTV.“My dad used to play with Pereira on the back and I wanted to change because, in Belgium, everyone knows I’m the son of my dad. The son of Pereira. I wanted to change that and start my own way and be Andreas on my own and be known as Andreas.”
Marcos Pereira, now 43, had a distinguished career in Belgium with clubs such as Sint-Truidense, Royal Antwerp and Lommel United, just after the turn of the century.
Andreas was always known as ‘Andy’ to his colleagues in the younger age groups at United, when coming through the ranks. It is something that has continued in the first team and the multi-lingual midfield man is able to converse in a number of different languages.
”They call me Andy or Andreas,” he confirmed.
”They call me Andy or Andreas,” he confirmed.
“So I respond to every name. So I can speak with everyone at the club. It’s good because I can understand everything!”