- Facundo Pellistri joins Panathinaikos on long-term contract
- Man Utd pocket up to £6.8m from transfer
- Buy-back and sell-on clauses agreed as part of deal
Facundo Pellistri has left Manchester United on a permanent transfer to Panathinaikos.
The Uruguayan winger has signed a four-year contract until 2028 and will hope to kick on in Greece, having primarily been a fringe player in Manchester.
However, United are reported to have agreed a buy-back option that is active until 2027 and will also pocket a 45% sell-on fee should Pellistri move on from Panathinaikos. This transfer has added an initial £5.1m to the Old Trafford coffers, with up to £1.7m in potential add-ons.
Pellistri joined United as an 18-year-old in October 2020. He had made his senior breakthrough with domestic heavyweights Penarol, with Old Trafford cult hero Diego Forlan in charge at the time and giving his seal of approval to United counterpart and former teammate Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
Forlan described Pellistri as being like a combination of himself and Ryan Giggs.
Pellistri began life with United's Under-23 squad and impressed to the point of looking as though he would quickly make a first-team debut. But a bout of Covid-19 in January 2021 was a setback and by the end of the month a loan move to Alaves had been arranged.
The player returned to the same club for the whole of the 2021/22 season and eventually made his United debut in January 2023 in a Carabao Cup win over Charlton Athletic. He went on to make ten first-team appearances in the months that followed, and was part of Erik ten Hag's squad as 2023/24 rolled around. But after 14 further games, Pellistri finished the season on loan at Granada.
Amid a stop-start club career, Pellistri has been a regular international with Uruguay. He has played 26 times for his country to date, going to both the 2022 World Cup and this summer’s Copa America.
