Former Benfica starlet, and one-time Nottingham Forest loanee, Hildeberto Pereira has returned to parent club Legia Warsaw after a short spell at League One side Northampton Town.
Pereira played 12 games for Northampton, weighing in with one assist and earned himself a red card in a 2-1 defeat against Gillingham. The former Portugal Under-20 star joined the Cobblers early in the January transfer window after featuring just three times for parent club Legia Warsaw in the Polish Ekstraklasa.
Playing in League One for Northampton represented something of a step down for the once rated 22-year-old, a player who came up through the youth ranks at Benfica and who made a combined 57 appearances (12 goals/10 assists) for Benfica’s Under-19 and B sides.
Prior to turning out for Northampton, the multi-position utility player had a season on loan from Benfica at Nottingham Forest. That was in Forest’s 2016/17 Sky Bet Championship campaign, a campaign where the talented youngster featured in 25 games, scoring two goals, providing two assists and picking up three red cards.
In a statement of their website, Northampton Town caretaker manager Dean Austin confirmed that Pereira was to be sent back to Poland. Austin said that the Portuguese player’s return to his parent club was a decision taken by former manager Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink.
Providing some legitimacy to Hasselbaink’s decision, and commenting on the return of two other loanees, Gboly Ariyibi and Boris Mathis, Austin said, “I felt it was best at this moment in time with only 5 games to go that the core of the group are already signed here. I don’t want to be working with 23-24 players every day.”
