Manchester United send former Real Madrid defender out on loan

Teenage defender Alvaro Fernandez has moved from Manchester United to Preston on loan for the forthcoming season.

The 19-year-old is yet to make a senior appearance for the Red Devils since joining from Real Madrid in 2020, but is building an impressive reputation at Old Trafford.

The Spaniard won United’s Under-23 Player of the Season award and was included in four first team matchday squads at the end of last season under Ralf Rangnick.

However, thanks to the arrival of Tyrell Malacia from Feyenoord this summer, there is a huge amount of competition at left-back and Fernandez has fallen back down the pecking order for his preferred position.

Malacia will be competing with Luke Shaw and Alex Telles to start at left-back, so Fernandez is unlikely to get a look in any time soon.

He will at Preston, though, and he is excited to get started in the Championship.

‘I’m very happy, and I want to start with this club as soon as possible,’ said the teenager. ‘I wanted to go on loan and start to play at a high level.

‘I’ve spoken to the manager about the football, it’s so good. I like his plans for the season so I want to start.’

Preston boss Ryan Lowe said: ‘Alvaro’s one we’ve monitored and one who was brought to our attention through our chief scout James Wallace who’s watched him numerous times.

‘Once we’d watched him a little bit more we felt he could do a job for us down that side as a left wing back.

‘He’ll challenge Robbie [Brady] to start. Robbie’s got the quality in his left foot of picking passes out, and Álvaro’s got different types of qualities in that he gets at people and he can get past them with high energy.

‘He’s a fantastic asset to us. He’s going to be a fantastic football player for Manchester United, but we