Porto president Pinto da Costa has confirmed that Alex Telles' main argument for wanting to join Manchester United was to boost his chances of having regular play-time and push for a regular spot for Brazil.
Telles joined United on transfer deadline day with the English club wanting to strengthen the options available at left-back, with Ashley Young leaving in the previous window, and with Luke Shaw and Brandon Williams both being in poor form, with the latter being naturally a right-back.
Whilst Porto tried to keep hold of Telles as much as possible, the Portuguese club knew that they were fighting a losing battle with the Brazilian wanting a move to Old Trafford and with him having just a year left on his contract.
Speaking with TVI, da Costa said "I'm never satisfied when a good player leaves. Look, a big sale that I was disgusted with was Hulk's and it was a big deal. There are times when we have no other solution."
"A week or two earlier, Alex’s sister, who’s the agent, expressed his desire to leave. A week before closing the market, he asked to leave because he really wanted to go to Manchester United."
He added that he "tried not to let him go" but stated that "it's not possible to keep a player who takes over publicly and before me and my management he wanted to leave".
Whilst da Costa argued with Telles that his international aspirations could be realised with Porto, the 27-year-old's mind was made up as "The argument for leaving was that the current coach of Brazil only called players from three or four championships."
Da Costa tried to convince him to stay, saying that he was in fact in the national team set-up despite playing for Porto, yet Telles insisted on leaving.
Telles has played three times for Brazil, with two of the appearances coming after completing the transfer to Manchester United on deadline day for £15.4 million.
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