MIAMI — Tosin Kehinde has left Manchester United to join CD Feirense.
The 20-year-old midfielder has signed a four-year deal with the Portuguese top-flight club, bringing to an end a seven-year stay at Old Trafford.
Kehinde was offered a new contract by United but has decided to leave in a bid to find regular first-team football.
After his deal expired on June 30, he attracted interest from a host of clubs at home and abroad, including Barcelona and Atletico Madrid, before opting to sign for CD Feirense, who finished 16th in the Primera Liga last season.
Kehinde was part of the United’s Under-23 team that suffered relegation last term — something Jose Mourinho was keen to point out after the 2-1 win over Real Madrid in Miami on Tuesday.
Mourinho was forced to take a young squad to the United States with a host of senior players unavailable following the World Cup.
He decided to overlook a number of U23 regulars in favour of picking players from the U18s including 16-year-old Mason Greenwood and 17-year-old James Garner.
And as the U.S. tour concluded in Florida, Mourinho heaped praise on the “kids” who have been part of the tour while also appearing to criticise the club’s more experienced youngsters.
“We have just a few players here, lots of kids, our kids are really, really young because the team of all the ones of U23 was relegated, the team went to the second division,” he told a news conference at the Hard Rock Stadium.
“The quality was not good so we prefer to bring kids.
“We don’t have good players of 20 or 21 like Real Madrid has. Our good players are 16, 17, 18.
“It’s fantastic for the kids. The story of this club was made with good players coming through the youth team and we will do it with these kids when they are older.”
Rob is ESPN FC’s Manchester United correspondent. Follow him on Twitter @RobDawsonESPN.
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