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Andreas, the boy who slept with his football boots on
To get to football’s elite is very difficult, with only a tiny percentage of children achieving their dream. Andreas lived and breathed football from the day he was born. When he was just four years old, he and his father would go to training sessions at Saint Truiden and Andreas would attend with a ball glued to his foot, starting to play with other kids that were two years older than him. He wasn’t scared, his father recalls, “he wanted to play football all the time.” Nowadays, a 21-year-old Pereira has made room for himself at Valencia CF after making a lot of sacrifices, never once thinking that he wouldn’t become a professional footballer.
Pereira was born on January 1st 1996 in Duffel (Belgium), a country where his father was playing as a forward, and he was born a footballer, posters covering the walls of his bedroom, living and breathing football. Together with his father, he would often go out onto the pitch with the team. At the age of 8, Andreas played for Lommel Utd, located near the border with Holland, but he was soon spotted by scouts for PSV Eindhoven, who signed him at the age of 9. He used to get up at 5am and, with his mother, they would head to the border to catch a bus that would take them to Eindhoven. He wouldn’t get home until 7pm. It was a lot of hours every day, but “Andreas loved playing football so much. At first he used to play like a child, but at 12 I started to notice that he had certain qualities, although I didn’t think he’d reach such a high level. It wasn’t easy to take the decision, the school in Belgium was really good and for us it was important for him to study. At 16 years of age, it was difficult to balance the two” says his father.
At youth level for PSV, despite starting in the under 12s, he was already playing international competitions, being named best player in two tournaments in Mallorca and Bilbao. “From then on, we started to realize that he had a bright future” says Marcos, who keeps giving him advice. At 15, there was another tough decision, when various clubs wanted to sign Andreas, he travelled to Manchester and Alex Ferguson convinced him to sign for United. When he turned 16, he began to play in the Red Devils’ academy. “That was a big step, because the first year he was alone in Manchester, but he grew up a lot” remembers Marcos, who, among all his qualities, highlights his “technique with both feet and his vision”.
Since his childhood, Andreas has always lived and breathed football, as his father explains: “his first present was a football. He used to play football all the time, and when he wasn’t playing he would play on his games console. He even slept in his boots, he was obsessed. He always wore football shirts”. One of his idols in his childhood was Kaka, because of how he played, while his father liked Romario, “I remember that he played for Valencia CF wearing the number 11 shirt, although for me, the best player of that era for Valencia CF was Mendieta”. Now, he enjoys watching his son play for the club. Both of them love talking about football and, above all, they do so in a constructive way, to keep improving. Marcos Pereira only has positive things to say about this latest stage, just like his son: “he goes to train with a lot of enthusiasm, he feels important for the team and so he’s really happy”.
To get to football’s elite is very difficult, with only a tiny percentage of children achieving their dream. Andreas lived and breathed football from the day he was born. When he was just four years old, he and his father would go to training sessions at Saint Truiden and Andreas would attend with a ball glued to his foot, starting to play with other kids that were two years older than him. He wasn’t scared, his father recalls, “he wanted to play football all the time.” Nowadays, a 21-year-old Pereira has made room for himself at Valencia CF after making a lot of sacrifices, never once thinking that he wouldn’t become a professional footballer.
Pereira was born on January 1st 1996 in Duffel (Belgium), a country where his father was playing as a forward, and he was born a footballer, posters covering the walls of his bedroom, living and breathing football. Together with his father, he would often go out onto the pitch with the team. At the age of 8, Andreas played for Lommel Utd, located near the border with Holland, but he was soon spotted by scouts for PSV Eindhoven, who signed him at the age of 9. He used to get up at 5am and, with his mother, they would head to the border to catch a bus that would take them to Eindhoven. He wouldn’t get home until 7pm. It was a lot of hours every day, but “Andreas loved playing football so much. At first he used to play like a child, but at 12 I started to notice that he had certain qualities, although I didn’t think he’d reach such a high level. It wasn’t easy to take the decision, the school in Belgium was really good and for us it was important for him to study. At 16 years of age, it was difficult to balance the two” says his father.
At youth level for PSV, despite starting in the under 12s, he was already playing international competitions, being named best player in two tournaments in Mallorca and Bilbao. “From then on, we started to realize that he had a bright future” says Marcos, who keeps giving him advice. At 15, there was another tough decision, when various clubs wanted to sign Andreas, he travelled to Manchester and Alex Ferguson convinced him to sign for United. When he turned 16, he began to play in the Red Devils’ academy. “That was a big step, because the first year he was alone in Manchester, but he grew up a lot” remembers Marcos, who, among all his qualities, highlights his “technique with both feet and his vision”.
Since his childhood, Andreas has always lived and breathed football, as his father explains: “his first present was a football. He used to play football all the time, and when he wasn’t playing he would play on his games console. He even slept in his boots, he was obsessed. He always wore football shirts”. One of his idols in his childhood was Kaka, because of how he played, while his father liked Romario, “I remember that he played for Valencia CF wearing the number 11 shirt, although for me, the best player of that era for Valencia CF was Mendieta”. Now, he enjoys watching his son play for the club. Both of them love talking about football and, above all, they do so in a constructive way, to keep improving. Marcos Pereira only has positive things to say about this latest stage, just like his son: “he goes to train with a lot of enthusiasm, he feels important for the team and so he’s really happy”.
Paul Marin -19 is one thing, 20 is a whole other matter. It gets even worse if they win the UCL. *groan*. 
05/18/2011.MU fans naah cough, but all a unuh a vomit?-Lazie 1/11/2015