Rochdale boss Keith Hill is disappointed to have lost Joel Castro Pereira back to Manchester United.

Hill is deeply disappointed with the young keeper's departure but has backed him to have a bright future.

"He has returned to Manchester and disappointingly so, may I add," Hill said.

“He's an excellent player, I love him to bits and he suits me as a Manager with the type of goalkeeper that he is - he's very flamboyant, very risqué and very confident.

“He wanted me to give him assurances but I won't give anybody an assurance of playing or guarantee that they'll play. I want a competitive nature to training and I want everybody to feel as though they've got an opportunity to prove themselves worthy of playing within training.

“I understand his thoughts and if he changes his mind and wants to come back then he'd be embraced with open arms because I think he's an excellent young kid who has got an unbelievable future in the game.

“I'm glad that he came to us and I'm glad that he played on Tuesday night because I thought the was excellent."