United’s U21 stars surprised students today as they visited
Manchester United Foundation partner schools across Greater Manchester.
Andreas Pereira along with Tom Thorpe and
Joel Pereira met with students and staff at New Charter Academy, which
is one of eleven schools across Greater Manchester to be partnered with
the Foundation.
Players were given a tour of the school,
and took part in football drills followed by a Q&A session, before
inviting students to attend the U21 derby between United and City at Old
Trafford on 12th May.
U21 captain, Tom Thorpe, who is from
Denton spoke about the importance of visiting a school on his home
patch: “I know Manchester United Foundation does a lot of work in local
schools in the area and I think it’s great that we can come, help out
and show our faces, especially for someone like me who is local. It
shows that if you dream of one day playing football or playing for
Manchester United, that if you do your best and work hard, you have a
chance.”
He also spoke of their upcoming U21
fixture: “We have a big game coming up at Old Trafford and putting the
title aside, it’s against City, they’re our biggest rivals and we want
to win, add to this we have a chance of winning the league it gives the
match extra spice, all the players are really looking forward to it.”
Foundation coach Ben Smith, who is based
full time at the school, said, ““The pupils really enjoyed speaking to
the players and learning about their careers so far but what made it
really special is that Tom Thorpe is from this area. It was nice for
them to see that a lad from this area has gone on to make an appearance
for the Manchester United first team and will continue to do great
things. It gives them the idea that they can go on to do great things as
well.”
Across town, U21 player of the year
nominees Liam Grimshaw and Donald Love joined team-mates Keiran O’Hara,
Joe Rothwell, and James Weir, in surprising students at The Swinton High
School. Players shared their experiences and offered advice to the year
7 and 8 students.
United defender Grimshaw explained why
it’s important for young players to give back, he said, “It always good
to come and work with these young kids because we all started here, at
school, all the kids here will have dreams and aspirations like we did.
When you’re at a big club like Manchester United you have to be a role
model to them.”
Other U21 squad members including
midfielder Ben Pearson and recently signed Sadiq El Fitouri also
attended visits at Middleton High School and The Albion Academy.
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