Manucho Goncalves Thread - Granted work permit

[BrancoII]

Manucho Goncalves has been signed by Man Utd according to Manutd.com. The 24 year old will join up with man utd after the African nations cup.

[dukeofdavinci]

Boss reveals new signing

United has reached agreement with Petro Athletico of Luanda to sign Mateus Alberto Contreiras Goncalves – "Manucho."

The 24-year-old Angolan international striker, who has scored twice in 10 appearances for his country, has agreed personal terms and will join the Club in January on a 3-year agreement. An application for a work permit will be made in due course.

He was top goalscorer in the last two seasons of the GiraBola, finishing with 16 goals for Petro Luanda in 2006 and 15 goals this year. Manucho will be part of the Angolan squad for the African Nations Cup in January.

Sir Alex Ferguson is delighted by the new arrival, saying: “We have had Manucho here for a 3-week trial and have been impressed enough to offer him a 3-year contract.

"He is a tall, agile and quick forward and through contacts that Carlos [Queiroz] has was brought to our attention around six months ago.”

OMG!!

we are really masters of hiding our transfer targets!!this is like what the 3rd player to be unveiled suddenly wth out the press even knowing!!damn we are good.

so anybody knows him??another of carlos queiroz's list joins us well any way welcome to the ot and gotta say after tis surprise i would add that cant wait to see what he can offer us

[unitedfan]

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

Manuel Alberto Contreiras Gonçalves (born March 7, 1983 in Luanda) is an Angolan footballer, also known as Manucho. He currently plays for English Premiership giants Manchester United, signing a three year deal on 21 December 2007 (subject to work permit application), and he is also a key member of the Angolan national team.

History
As a youngster Manucho started his football at a small football club and one of the only football academies in Angola, situated in a rural area of the city of Luanda called Terra Nova (nicknamed Terrex) where he also lived. This club was called Flamenguinhos, and with close supervision of his father and mentor Coach Alberto Gonçalves and Coach Nelo, Manucho rose to become a formidable striker and one of the stars of club.

Early Career
Manucho's recent professional career started in Benfica de Luanda, a midtable club of the Angolan Girabola league. He then moved to Luanda based side Petro Atlético were he initially struggled to find a place due to the presence of striker Flávio Amado. After Flávio joined Egyptian outfit Al Ahly Manucho established himself in the side becoming the top scorer of Girabola for the past two years with 16 and 15 goals in 2006 and 2007 respectively.

Manchester United
From the Angolan domestic league to Old Trafford is quite a leap, but stiker Manucho Gonçalves seems to have taken it in his stride. The striker underwent a three-week trial at the Premiership giants, during which he rubbed shoulders with some of the top players at Manchester United. He told The News of the World, "It's a dream. Cristiano Ronaldo and Nani have appreciated my qualities and I played in a training match."

Manucho Goncalves offically signed for Manchester United on December 21st, 2007. Sir Alex Ferguson confirmed the deal in the pre-match press conference for the home game against Everton.

My findings


And something that is of interest - he has a good goal return - 69 from 60appearances. Still though, a player from the Angolan league isn't a guarantee to light up the league in England, obviously.

Against international opposition, he's not had that much return, 2 from 10, although that's quite a small number of appearances to go by.

It's a bloody shocker though, Fergie must have worked undercover for some government in the past, with how he's pulling all of these out the hat.

[unitedfan]

Manucho Goncalves has earned a dream move to Manchester United after impressing manager Sir Alex Ferguson during trials with the Premier League champions.

The 23-year-old former Petro de Luanda forward was unveiled to the media yesterday alongside manager Ferguson, who has apparently taken the African star under his wing.

An excited Manucho revealed how Ferguson welcomed him when he signed his contract.

"'You are my son', that's what the manager said to me when I signed my contract. 'You are my son' in Portuguese. It shows the friendliness of the man."

Manucho added: "This is a dream come true. Although, I never imagined when playing in Angola that I would one day join Manchester United. It is a club from another world.

"The welcome I have had from United and the players has been spectacular."

Manucho revealed that fellow Portuguese speakers Cristiano Ronaldo, Anderson and Nani - as well as Carlos Tevez, Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra and Louis Saha had all helped him settle in at United, with whom he spent three weeks of trials earlier this month.

"The first couple of days I was scared," he admitted. "But thanks to these players and the coaching staff, I was made to feel welcome and able to totally focus on my work.

"I believe I can make it. I know I need to work hard on my game. But if determination is all that is needed, I can succeed."

Ferguson, who earlier had said that a work permit application will go ahead for Manucho, told United's official; website:

"We have had Manucho here for a 3-week trial and have been impressed enough to offer him a 3-year contract.

"He is a tall, agile, quick forward and through contacts that Carlos [Queiroz, Ferguson's assistant manager] has, was brought to our attention around six months ago."

Manucho scored 31 league goals in two seasons in Angola.

[unitedfan]

Angolan striker Manucho has spoken of his delight at securing a deal that should see the 24-year-old join the Reds after January's African Cup of Nations.

The centre-forward, who has topped the Angola league's scoring charts for the past two seasons playing with Petro Atletico Luanda, told MUTV he's living in dreamland after agreeing to a move to Old Trafford.

"I have been a fan of Manchester United from when I was very young so now I will work very hard to get into the first team," Manucho said.

"I am very happy to be here and I have worked very hard to make my dream a reality. I have found the adaptation easy because all the players have given me their support… and players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Nani and Anderson all speak my language [Portuguese]."

Although Manucho's work permit still needs to be granted, United boss Sir Alex Ferguson is confident the player has the necessary traits to make an impact in the Barclays Premier League.

"He's a very quick, aggressive forward, a big lad about 6"2'," Sir Alex told MUTV. "We've had him on trial for three weeks and he's done very well. We're delighted to have made an agreement with his football team."

Manucho isn't expected to see much first-team action this season, although Sir Alex conceded it all depends on how well he settles into life at United.

"I think he'll need a few months to adjust," he said. "In saying that, he's done very well in training and you never know how players willprogress.

"I said the same thing about Ole Gunnar Solskjaer when he arrived. I thought I'd give him a year or two in the Reserves but after three or four games he was in the first team.

"It all boils down to the boy himself, how he adapts to the change and how he commits himself to learning. Every young player has to learn."

Finally we see what the thought on Manucho is from Fergie's point of view. He's got pace too then, well he's starting to sound like Adebayor. It'd be an absolute dream if he progressed the same rate as Solskjaer did, but it's not something you'd put money on.


Seems he's the response to Ole's retirement.

[dukeofdavinci]

6"2 now thats tall, well after having short ones now finally add some tall ones beside saha

[kyan]

I've heard he's gonna be sent on loan to Panathinaikos in January...

I think a loan is the right way to go tbh, the jump from Angolan league to Premiership is probably quite huge...

[dukeofdavinci]

a loan is good move but rather out i think it will be much better if he was sent some whr in the premiership or the championship side.

[PAOK_4]

This is what I've seen of the move to Panathinaikos: Manchester Utd's Manucho Set For Loan Deal With Panathinaikos - Premier League Debut On Hold For Angolan | Premiership Latest Football News

Panathinaikos really do need a big, strong striker up front so this move makes sense. However, Panathinaikos already have 5 non-EU players and to sign him that would need to change. Furthermore they've supposedly just bought a 22-year-old Greek international striker Petropoulos who is also tall and strong. I don't doubt that Manucho is an excellent player, particularly as he is said to have impressed Sir Alex Ferguson himself, but it would make more sense for Panathinaikos in my opinion to buy a young Greek striker to permanently solve their problem, than to get a loan deal which, should Angola be successful in the African Cup of Nations, could only see him play 3 months for Panathinaikos and miss the cup game with Olympiacos and the league game 4 days later.

[kyan]

With Tevez potentially out for a while it might be in our best interests to hang onto Goncalves for now.

[unitedfan]

Would be totally against signing a 24 year old and sending him on loan for a year. If it were for 3 months after the African nations, then fair enough. As for covering Tevez, Manucho isn't available for selection until February at the earliest anyway.

[dukeofdavinci]

Manucho strikes for Angola

New United signing Manucho was on target for Angola as they continue their preparations for the African Nations Cup later this month.

The 24-year-old striker, who impressed on a three-week trial late last year, must wait to be granted a work permit before being allowed to complete his move to Old Trafford.

The Angolan forward struck the only goal of the friendly match against Dutch side Willem II in Portugal on Sunday.

Angola play Egypt in Lisbon on Thursday in their next warm-up match before their opening game African Nations Cup against South Africa in Tamale on 23 January.

manucho scores in a friendly, hope he can bring more goals when he finnaly joins us.

[jec1]

I saw a segment on him and he said he would love to play at Old trafford, it's his dream!

Also, he's a pretty big guy, maybe 6'4.

[Moze]

I shall understand that saha will lose his place now

[kyan]

Man Utd No2 Queiroz: Manucho is something different
tribalfootball.com - January 15, 2008

Manchester United assistant boss Carlos Queiroz says new signing Manucho Goncalves is a player unlike anyother they have in the current squad.

Queiroz said of the big Angola centre-forward: "We signed him, above all, for his characteristics, how he moves and his physical attributes, which are different to what we already have.

"We need a player, in the medium-term, of his characteristics. Someone who can hold the ball and is strong in the air."

Queiroz added: "We're having some problems with his work permit, so loaning him out is probably going to be the best solution this season."


OK it's from tribal but still... Work permit problems? great... hopefully that'll be sorted if he plays a lot in the ACN.