Former Manchester United defender Alvaro Carreras has come on leaps and bounds since leaving the Red Devils in the summer.

The Spaniard joined United in 2020 but he left having never having made a senior appearance for the club when he permanently joined SL Benfica when they exercised their option to make his loan deal permanent in June.

Carreras had a successful loan spell at Preston North End and whilst things did not work out for him at CF Granada last season, he did impress on loan at Benfica in the second half of the season.

The Spanish Under-21 international has impressed so much that he was even linked with a return to United before they signed Patrick Dorgu from Lecce in the January window.

The 21 year old has made himself a staple of the Portuguese side’s team sheet as he has played 36 games this season, including nine matches in the Champions League.

He has three goals and five assists to his name as he has become one of Europe’s best attacking full-backs.

The left back was in action last night as his Benfica side drew 3-3 with AS Monaco and progressed to the last sixteen of the Champions League.

Carreras put in another sensational performance as he provided the assist for the tie-winning goal.

He also won three tackles and made two successful dribble attempts in the match.

Alvaro Carreras' stats vs. Monaco:

69 touches
5 tackles attempted
3 tackles won
2 dribbles
2 chances created
1 assist
0.49 xA

Quality assist from deep for Benfica's tie-winning goal. 🅰️ pic.twitter.com/uJUHnYLOWD

— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) February 18, 2025

The Spaniard was also particularly impressive in the away leg of the tie as he had four shots on goal and an 87% pass success rate. It was also already his 50th appearance for the Eagles, including his loan spell.

His side are also flying high in the league as they are only two points behind Sporting CP at the top.

The Spaniard’s displays have been so impressive that Spanish outlet Relevo has labelled him the “revelation of the Champions League” this season and commented on how both United and Real Madrid let him slip through their grasps.

Hopefully, Dorgu will go on to have an excellent career at Old Trafford and United fans will not need to think “what if?” in the case of Carreras but there is no doubt that the player has only gone from strength to strength after deciding to swap Manchester for Lisbon.

Featured image Gualter Fatia via Getty Images

Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.

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