Gone to Atlanta United in the States on a permanent transfer. https://www.atlutd.com/post/2019/01/15/atlanta-united-acquires-dion-pereira
I'm not too surprised. An undoubted talent on the ball but a bit of a Hollywood player at U23 level this season, so often looking for a killer ball and losing possession when a simple ball was the best option. As hard as he tried - and he ran his socks off to be fair to him - off the ball he was not as good as those around him. His contract was up this summer too and I doubt he'll be the only one who won't be offered new terms. Best of luck Dion, I hope it's the start of a successful new adventure.
Wouldn’t surprise me if this is our crafty owner pulling the pants down of some inept MLS franchise who think they are actually getting Bobby P. Either that, or we’re sending them the Crown Jewels to secure first dibs on Almiron to replace the actual Bobby P this summer. Sneaky Gino!
He was unlikely to play here. Atlanta United's brain trust is headed by Darren Eales (formerly of Spurs). They went from nonexistence to winning the league in their second year under Tata Martino just a couple of months ago. They regularly draw 70,000 fans and have hired Frank de Boer to replace Martino (off to coach Mexico's national team)him. de Boer says he's going to maintain an attacking wide-open style, which should fit Pereira's game well. That said, Atl United is not short of talent, so he could easily start the season with the B team (which itself has a few U20 internationals on it). Hopefully he gets to play and we made a few quid off him. It never hurts to have yoof come through the program and go off elsewhere to be successful. If we know Gino there's a sell-on fee...
Not hardly. Atl United is run by Darren Eales - ex-Spuds. They won the league in their second year of existence. Their owner (Arthur Blank) is a self-made billionaire (Hone Depot). He also owns the Atlanta Falcons NFL franchise, the PGA Golf suprerstore retail chain and a few other sundry items - like the stadium that's about to host the Super Bowl. I love Gino but if we had that ownership group we'd be loving life. I've actually been to an Atl United game. Fantastic atmosphere. If you're over that way and can go, take one in. SEJ lives in Atlanta part of the time IIRC, so you might see him there (I didn't).
If the state of Instagram is anything to go by, some of their idiot fans think they have signed the other ‘pereyra’. Disappointment incoming.
Wrong m8. Think you're getting confused. They're a mid-table Italian club with a well renowned youth system. No doubt Pozzo using his Italian links to launder some money and secure us access to the best Italian youngsters Atalanta can produce. Crafty Gino.
This adds weight to the search for another Left Winger. Hope he does well in the next phase of his career.
For anyone interested, Dion Pereira started the season playing regularly for the U23s but more recently he hasn't even been making the bench. His contract had 6 months to run and with the emergence of Harry Forster I just think Dion had taken his WFC career as far as it was going to go. Forster is a year younger at 18 years of age, quicker with the ball at his feet, a better passer & better defensively than Pereira. Pereira is physically better developed but that's about the only department I'd say he had the upper hand over Forster. Neither have been accurate enough in front of goal this season when chances have come their way but Forster looks the more composed of the two so next season I'd hope that to improve. But... according to what I can find on the net, Forster also only has 6 months left on his contract. The main difference is he's still being played regularly. WFC also have Kieran Holsgrove who can play anywhere down the left hand side and who, after a trial period, is now contracted to the club. I don't know how long that contract is for though. Both Pereira & Forster have also played behind the front two this season and Forster looks very much at home there too. With Sonny Blu Lo-Everton now making waves at U18 level in that position I think they'll look to fast track his progress next season which means Pereira is pushed down the pecking order still further had he stayed. SB Lo-Everton has recently turned 17, is quite slight in build but can tackle with the best of them if the one full game I've seen him play was anything to go by. He was also incredibly composed on the ball during that very hard fought FA Youth Cup game, picking out the runs of the forward players with ease. He also scored the only goal of the game with a fantastic free-kick. So for Pereira to have stayed (providing he wanted to in the first place) it would have meant him improving significantly & quickly in a number of areas of his game when compared to three younger players who are in competition for the left-sided midfield & central attacking midfield positions. There are others in the Academy who play those positions but it's those three I'd say who would've been in direct competition with Pereira next season. Obviously they're just my opinions and sometimes players stop developing as you'd hope they would - much like, for me, Pereira has - so there's no guarantee Forster, Holsgrove or Lo-Everton will break through in any meaningful way. I just think the club see them as better bets right now.
We've sold him to a mythological virgin huntress who kills men who can't beat her in a running race, unless they have golden apples.
Mrs Rijrode told me once that I have "golden apples". Sadly I think she was exaggerating. But I still bask in that warm glow occasionally.
You reckon golden star apples work, or does it have to be the regular sort? If the regular sort then does it matter if it's, say, a golden Granny Smith, or a golden Golden Delicious? Or would a golden Golden Delicious just be unnecessary overkill?
Was just reading his interviewing with Atlanta's official website. He says: https://www.atlutd.com/post/2019/01/22/pereira-focused-earning-minutes-atl-utd I can't figure out the logic there. Why would Watford stop a young kid training in that way? Hardly like a big money move (for us) was in jeopardy.
They were possibly looking after the players interests rather than their own? I presume he wasn't going to be offered a new contract before this summer so an injury pre January would have jeopardised any move, especially if the transfer to Atlanta Utd. was already in place before the transfer window opened.
He didn't exactly set the world on fire in MLS, so I don't expect he'll have much of an impact over there.
