Facundo Pellistri explains why he wanted to leave Manchester United after £5.1m transfer exit

Panathinaikos winger Facundo Pellistri has admitted that he had decided he wanted to leave Manchester United prior to reporting back for the start of pre-season training.

The 22-year-old reported back to Carrington much later than the majority of his teammates after representing Uruguay at the Copa America during the summer break.

He played no part in the club's pre-season preparations and made his first appearance of the summer as a late substitute in the Community Shield defeat to Manchester City on August 10. He was forced to slot in as a makeshift right-back and he lost the run of Bernardo Silva that led to City equalising and taking the game to a penalty shootout.

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That was just Pellistri's 25th appearance in United colours, almost four years after joining the club from Penarol. He struggled to nail down a regular place at Old Trafford, being sent out on loan three times, including in the second half of last season.

Having last featured for United against Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup third round back in January, Pellistri's mind was made up to leave the club on a permanent basis in pursuit of more first-team opportunities. He joined Greek giants Panathinaikos earlier this month for a fee of €6million (£5.1m), with a further €2m (£1.7m) in add-ons.

"I had made the decision a little before I returned to training," said Pellistri, as quoted by ESPN Deportes. "I knew that the ideal thing for my future and at my age was to play, and that I could play in Manchester, but it would be more complicated.

"So, I wasn't going to have the amount of minutes