It was always a risky move to loan out Facundo Pellistri to a team that was close to the bottom of the Spanish League standings and had a poor goal scoring record.

That question is getting closer to becoming a true thing after his Granada debut.

Pellistri played 63 minutes against Las Palmas, making his debut for his new squad. He mostly covered right back territory during that time.

The Manchester United loanee performed admirably as his team managed to grind out a 1-1 draw with Las Palmas, mostly thanks to his defensive efforts against a team ranked ten places higher in the league.

In an impressive statistic, he won 9 out of 13 duels despite only being able to execute seven passes in 63 minutes.

With 30 touches of the ball, the Uruguayan’s whole game was essentially a “receive ball, lose ball” exercise.

Eleven times in total, he gave up the ball and only attempted two dribbles, just one of which was successful.

Even though they are not very big in La Liga, Las Palmas had more than 70% of the possession at the end of the match.

It is not an ideal training environment for a winger in development who needs to refine his attacking skills.

Pellistri did achieve five tackles, but he plays in the incorrect position if that is the part of the game Erik ten Hag and the team intended him to concentrate on.

Pellistri played a rough game overall, and his effort and dedication were admirable, but the club is simply not set up for attackers to thrive.

Given that Kamil Piatkowski’s red card in the 20th minute reduced his team to 10 men, there might have been mitigating circumstances.

However, it seemed like another reckless loan that would be harmful to the player’s development and market worth as soon as he was taken off the pitch.

This won’t get any easier for Pellistri when Granada travels to play Barcelona on February 11.

After that game, seven passes in sixty-three minutes may seem like a luxury at this rate.

Given that Granada is in the relegation zone and that the dynamic winger would have limited opportunities to flourish there, it seems quite irrational for United to loan him to them.

While it makes sense on the one hand to give Pellistri more playing time, it is possible that he could have been loaned to a team that placed greater emphasis on possession.

It’s strange that Pellistri was sent to a failing squad when he was starting for United earlier in the season, especially since a top Championship team would have surely signed him.

Therefore, if he struggles to play well here, we will need to bear that in mind. However, we anticipate that following a run of games, he will show off his obvious skill.