Henriquez granted UK work permit

24 Aug 2012 | Posted by Carl Thomas

A UK work permit has been awarded to Angelo Henriquez, a Chilean footballer, allowing him to take up a position with Manchester United.

The Chilean striker had already agreed a £3.5 million move to the Old Trafford club and passed a medical, so the news of the work permit will no doubt we welcomed. There had been some concern that he would have had to been loaned to a foreign club if the application had been unsuccessful.

Sir Alex Ferguson issued a statement on the club's website: "Henriquez is on his way back to Manchester and he should be here on Sunday. He had to go back to Chile after he got the work permit on Tuesday. We've had an option [on him] since he was 14 when he played against our youth team.

"He came over when he was 15 and then 16. We kept in close contact with him in that respect and, when he got to 18, it was a matter of whether or not we left him for another year or brought him in. But he had such a good summer with Chile's Under-20s, that we thought it wasn't worth waiting."

In Chile, the player managed 11 goals in 17 games, as well as 14 goals in nine games for the country's Under-20 side. Sir Alex will be hoping that he brings some of this talent across to Manchester United.

The 18-year-old striker currently plays for Universidad de Chile but has played his final game this week against Santos before joining his new team.

For Man Utd, the signing represents the final addition of the summer, despite the fact that it came well before the August 31st cut-off. Sir Alex stated: "We definitely won't be buying anyone else. There is no movement about anyone going the other way."