Denis Irwin believes Alex Telles could add another dimension to Manchester United's team with his attacking qualities and his ability from set-pieces.
Telles has played just once since signing for United, for 67 minutes in the brilliant 2-1 victory over PSG in the Champions League, before testing positive for covid-19. But the Brazilian is now expected to get an extended run in Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side with Luke Shaw out injured.
Fears that Telles had again contracted the virus were quelled when a recent test returned negative and he could make his Premier League debut against West Brom on Saturday evening.
“It's an opportunity for him now, with the games coming up, to get his foot in there,” former left-back Irwin told United's official website. “And sometimes it's through lack of injuries that you manage to hold down the place of the left-back position.
“I mean, we haven't seen him too much [from him] defensively wise, but the Premier League is a tough league and he's a full-back, so he'll have to be good defensively. But we've already seen his qualities going forward in that game in the 70 or so minutes he played.”
Irwin explained how Telles' quality from dead ball situations will help United's forwards, though held back from making one particular comparison with a former Old Trafford legend.
“There's no doubt that, on set-pieces, he's going to be a huge asset to us in that respect,” Irwin added on Telles. “Also, I'm not going to compare him to David Beckham! But it looks like he's got a fantastic left foot that can whip a ball in with pace, which our strikers would love to get in at the end of.”
