The England Under-20 star left for Lille and was immediately loaned out to Boavista where he is having enough game time and producing magic
After few minutes of first team football for Manchester United last season, Angel Gomes seemed little more than discontent with his game time at Old Trafford.
Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer used the attacker for a total of 19 minutes in the Premier League, and though he was given more playing time in the Carabao Cup and Europa League.
“You can ask Angel why he’s not signed,” Solskjaer said when reports surfaced that the player was unhappy with his lack of game time. “He’s not signed yet, I don’t know what the talks are behind the scenes.”
United may now be biting their fingers to the fact that they failed to convince him to stay, with Gomes now shinning in Portugal for Boavista.
“Angel represents one of the biggest international prospects in his position,” Lille CEO Marc Ingla said. Vividly, the Ligue 1 side definitely saw great potential in him which United failed to spot.
“I gave him the ABC of football,” Gil told TSF . “From a very young age, he showed that he was a unique boy because his favourite toy was always a ball.
“And Angel managed to show that he had a path in the game by being one of the youngest to make his debut in Manchester United’s first team when Jose Mourinho was coach. That helped him a lot.”
Gomes has been one of Liga NOS’ outstanding players this season, despite his Boavista side fighting the drop.
Gomes has three goals and two assists from his five appearances for Liga NOS side.Though these numbers are laudable, it shows just how good he has played.
“This boy has magic in his feet,” Portugal legend and 1987 European Cup-winning winger Paulo Futre told Record in October.
He showed his potential as he wriggled out from three defenders surrounding him to win a penalty after 17 minutes which he converted with the confidence of a far more seasoned player. Gomes was also instrumental to the second goal.
Given the player’s attitude and work rate, head coach Seabra was not amazed he hit the ground running.
“He’s very humble, he’s a kid who’s really eager to learn, he’s really passionate about the game and about the ball,” he explained after the match. “The ball is always a part of his body, it’s always with him.
“He really wants to grow, to learn and to listen to everything that we try to transmit to him so that he can have a good understanding of the game to be able to help the team.
“What we feel is that he’s humble enough to always try to give his all for the team. He’s indeed a team player. The team feels that and respects him, but also pushes him to work every day.”
