Manchester United have this evening confirmed the signing of £18.2m left-back Alex Telles from Porto. The Brazilian has been in Porto for four seasons, winning two league titles and being named the best in his position in the league for the last three years.
To join a club with the prestige of Manchester United is a huge honour. You have to work hard to get to this moment in your career and now I am coming to this club, I can promise that I will give everything in my heart to be a success here. I won many trophies at FC Porto and I want to continue that at United. The manager has a clear plan and direction for this team and I can’t wait to pull on the famous shirt.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has been looking to strengthen the left-back position, with Luke Shaw so injury-prone and Brandon Williams still developing, so is delighted to bring someone of Telles quality to the club.
First and foremost, I welcome Alex to United. He is a player we have been tracking for some time and his performances over the past few years are exactly what we are looking for. He is a fighter and a winner and will add real determination and competition to the squad. Alex has the qualities, both as a player and as a person, that we want here at Manchester United.
Telles scored 13 goals for Porto this season and in an interview with the club’s official site has talked about why he signed for United and what he hopes to bring to United.
It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I’m very happy to be here and I’m going to give everything to fight for the club and do the best possible. It’s a very unique opportunity and I’ll do the best I can. I like to think of myself as a very intelligent player, a set-piece specialist and I’m always looking for opportunities to create passes to score goals.
I look at being a defender in a different way with my goals. I’m looking to create more openings wherever possible but during training I also pay particular attention to set-piece training. Apart from the key basics of being a defender, which is obviously about defending well, I want to have extra aspects to my game so I’m a versatile player.
I have great beliefs in my defensive capabilities but also in my attacking ability. I’m in the best moment of my career and I believe I’ve grown a lot, and hopefully I can continue to do so.
