Fantastic Mexico striker Oribe Peralta claims that he would love to follow his team-mate Javier Hernandez to England but reports linking him with a move to Manchester United appear to be a little wide of the mark.
Peralta scored twice on Saturday as Mexico beat Brazil 2-1 at Wembley in the Gold Medal match at the Olympic Games. The result gave the Mexicans their first-ever Olympic medal in football and arguably the greatest victory in the country’s history.
Manchester United refused to allow Hernandez to take part in the tournament while former Arsenal striker Carlos Vela absented himself amidst recriminations in his homeland. But Peralta says Mexican players are good enough to perform in the top European leagues.
“We’ve proven that Mexico are a good team and we can help English teams,” Peralta said after the match.
“Of course I’d love to come and play here. It would be a challenge and it would be really great for me.”
The Daily Mail is linking Peralta with Old Trafford, largely on the back of those comments. However, Peralta’s age – he is 28 – is likely to count against him, at least as far as United are concerned and particularly as they look well-stocked with strikers on the eve of the new season.
“He’s an inspiration to us, scoring goals,” Peralta said of United’s Hernandez.
“We have to train to be like him. He scores many important goals for Manchester United. This makes us happy and it’s something we aspire to.”
Peralta plays for the Santos Laguna side in Mexico and was one of three over-age players in the country’s Olympic squad. He has spent his entire professional career in Mexican football where he has scored 50 goals in 167 games for Santos Laguna since joining them in 2006.
Although he has 10 full international caps for Mexico Peralta played a limited role for the side at last year’s Copa America but was used in the country’s Pan American games squad and in this year’s Olympic tournament, both of which he ended as Mexico’s top scorer.
