Copa América 2024 Player To Watch: Facundo Pellestri – Group C

A lot of players feature more often for their club than they feature for their national teams, but for Facundo Pellestri, it is quite often the opposite.

Since signing for Manchester United in 2020, Pellestri has featured more for Uruguay than he has for the Red Devils.

A number of loan spells since his signing have earned him a decent amount of game time at club level.

This summer looks to be the one when Pellestri finally departs United permanently, and the below visualisation shows where the young winger ranks for some of the key metrics from the recent season, the second half of which he spent with Granada in Spain’s La Liga.

At Granada, Pellestri has scored two goals and assisted one in 14 appearances.

For whichever club he has played, he has almost always started on the right.

A fast dribbler — ranking 54th percentile for dribbles per 90 minutes, Pellestri is good in 1v1s and likes to take on his opposition relentlessly.

Pellestri is also a good crosser whenever he finds himself in those crossing positions.

He is calm in front of the goal and a tireless worker off the ball, which he has shown time and again during his time at Granada this season.

His time at Manchester United might not be the right kind of barometer by which to assess him.

While he has been unlucky in terms of managers not favouring him at United, he has shown whenever he has been with Uruguay the kind of potential he has.

There is no doubt that he will feature for Uruguay at this year’s tournament, but this time around, it is even more important because his performances might finally secure him the much-needed game time at United or a permanent move away.