Manchester United midfielder Andreas Pereira is relying on manager Jose Mourinho to help him become a winner.

After opening the Premier League campaign with a 2-1 win against Leicester, attention turns to the south coast as United travel to Brighton on Sunday.

Pereira will be hoping to retain his place in the side after impressing in midfield last Friday, when he ended an 897-day wait for a United appearance.

The 22-year-old spent time on loan at Granada and Valencia during that period – time away that has clearly benefited a player determined to kick on again and become a serial winner like manager Mourinho.

“We rely on him because he always prepares the team well,” Pereira said of the manager. “He knows what to do.

“He is a winner and he always wants to win, so because he is like that we turn into that and we want to be like him, so we turn into winners as well so it’s very important.”

Mourinho’s track record is certainly impressive, although the pressure will soon mount after a trophyless 2017-18 and background murmurings about the happiness of big-name players.

Should things go awry you can be sure that the Portuguese will return to the subject of summer spending but perhaps Pereira’s return make him like a new signing

Nobody played more minutes than the midfielder during the pre-season tour of America and his promise has led to a maiden call-up to the Brazil squad for next month’s matches against the USA and El Salvador.

“An honour that I cannot measure, a joy that explodes the heart, a dream that is realised today!” Pereira wrote on social media. “Thank you, God! Brazilian with pride and love!”

Pereira’s future certainly looks bright, but the midfielder knows his United game time will come under threat when Nemanja Matic returns to fitness.

“I will try to do my best,” he told MUTV. “And when Matic is back, of course he is an unbelievable player.

“I looked up to him since I was young, so I will see when he is back.

“But I will always be ready to play and to do my best for the team.”

Matic and captain Antonio Valencia returned to training on Thursday, but Mourinho says neither will be available for Brighton.

The United boss will also be without Marcos Rojo, Diogo Dalot, Ander Herrera and Sergio Romero as the side look to make amends for last season’s loss at Brighton.

“It will be for sure a difficult game but we will try to prepare for it as best as we can,” Pereira added.

“I think if you want to think about the title you have to think about every game and we have to win every game.

“Just in this week, so many people told me ‘last year we lost against Brighton’, so we have to prepare.

“I think we are going to get more prepared than last year because we know we lost last season, so this year we don’t want to lose. We want to win over there.”