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"We have a third goalkeeper that I think will be the best Portuguese goalkeeper of the next generation," Jose Mourinho gushed in May.

Given how that generation includes Benfica's Bruno Varela and Vitoria Guimares' Miguel Silva, that is no mean feat.

But, after a quiet start, Joel Pereira soon left an impression on his compatriot.

After Sam Johnstone travelled on the club's tour of Asia last season, Pereira opted for his second loan move in under a year.

And, in five months with Belenenses in the Portuguese top-flight, the 21-year-old caught the eye - just as he previously did with Rochdale.

Both loan spells aided Pereira's development, whether it was commanding his penalty area or his confidence under the high ball.

And having returned to United as third-choice, following Johnstone's departure in January, Pereira has benefited from his time with the first team.

While the loans have aided his development in terms of game time, a lengthy spell training with the first team has its obvious benefits, too.

The nature of goalkeeping coaching means that Pereira is getting a lot of individual training from Silvino Louro and Emilio Alvarez away from the rest of the squad.

And Pereira is something of a blank canvas that these top-class coaches can mould in their image.

The Portuguese is also learning from not one but two quality goalkeepers in David de Gea and Sergio Romero.

The result? Pereira is now the club's undisputed third-choice stopper ahead of Johnstone, Dean Henderson and Kieran O'Hara.

Mourinho has been at the heart of that decision after watching Pereira in action for the club's reserves against Tottenham in May.

Making his first appearance at that level since January, Pereira was constantly in his defenders' ears, telling them to move "up! up! up!"

Given the difficult conditions, Pereira hardly put a foot wrong and Louro nodded approvingly after his countryman caught a teasing high ball in the first-half.

Romero's reward was a Premier League debut four days later against Crystal Palace and, to his credit, he kept a clean sheet - as he did against Wigan in January.

Having stayed at home on the club's tour of Asia last summer, Pereira is now set to play a half in each of the games against La Galaxy and Real Salt Lake.

And, with United battling on four fronts this season, Pereira will hope to build on what is already a promising summer.

But how does Mourinho keep each of his three goalkeepers happy?

Romero had just 45 minutes of action last summer, but went on to start 18 games under Mourinho - nearly double the amount he managed under Louis van Gaal.

Already, the idea of Romero even equalling the amount of starts he made last season seems unlikely given United's Champions League commitments.

Mourinho has always picked his first-choice stopper for both league games and Champions League ties: Vitor Baia (Porto), Petr Cech (Chelsea), Julio Cesar (Inter), Iker Casillas (Real Madrid), Diego Lopez (Real Madrid) and Thibaut Courtois (Chelsea).

Entering the knockout stages of the competition, the pressure is too great to take a risk - particularly when you have a game-changing goalkeeper in your ranks.

So Mourinho looks more likely to select Romero in the domestic cup competitions this season.

Mourinho used the Argentine in the FA Cup third round, fourth round and fifth round last season, before reverting to de Gea for the sixth round clash against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.

He played Romero in the EFL Cup third round, before using de Gea in fourth round, fifth round, semi-final and final.

In total, De Gea played in 71.4% of United's 63 games last season while Romero featured in 28.5%, including the Europa League final.

Unless they win an unlikely quadruple, which would involve at least 65 games, United will not play that many matches this season.

But Pereira will not be thinking that far ahead - he will just want to take his latest chance on tour.

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