01/08/2017 09:34, Report by Adam Higgins

Sergio Romero has been recalling his time at former club Sampdoria ahead of Manchester United's pre-season friendly against the Italian club in Dublin.

The Argentinian goalkeeper spent four seasons with the Genoa-based outfit, who currently play in Italy's top-flight Serie A, between 2011 and 2015, punctuated by a brief loan spell at Monaco in 2013/14.

The Reds conclude a successful Tour 2017, presented by Aon, against Sampdoria at the Aviva Stadium on Wednesday (kick-off 19:45 BST). In an interview with MUTV, Romero had nothing but positive things to say about his old employers and revealed that he still has connections with the club and city.

“I played for Sampdoria for four years and it was four incredible years of my life,” he said. “Where, until this day, I have a lot of friends in Genoa, which is the city, and, in the club, the doctor and the manager, who handles all the team logistics, he's a great friend of mine.

“I also have team-mates who played with me while I was there and who are still great friends. In general, my wife and daughters have lived four fantastic years where we have left a lot of great friends.”

Led by head coach Marco Giampaolo, the one-time Serie A winners have been competing in the Italian top-flight since 2012 and have also enjoyed some past European success, winning the Cup Winners' Cup in 1990 and losing the 1992 European Cup final to Barcelona.

As he cast his mind back to his own experiences in Italy, Romero feels Sampdoria are a big club, steeped in tradition and history, and is confident we will soon see them on the main European stage once again.

“They are a club with a lot of history,” he explained. “It's a club that has won titles in Italy and that has a great fan base. The stadium, Marassi, is an incredible stadium when Sampdoria play at home.

“I have amazing memories of my games there, of the fans packing the stadium, supporting and chanting since the first minute so that Sampdoria win. I think that, if they continue on the same line they've been on in the last years, we will surely soon see Sampdoria in a Europa League competition.”

Before the eagerly anticipated UEFA Super Cup against Jose Mourinho's former club Real Madrid in Skopje, the Reds will sign off with a seventh game of a successful pre-season against a Sampdoria side who finished 10th in the Serie A last term.

It's a match that Romero is looking forward to and the 30-year-old, who recently signed a new contract at Old Trafford, also thinks it will be a good exercise for his former club in front of United's passionate supporters in Ireland.   

“I think that it will be a nice match because it will be a good game for Sampdoria to play and to be able to measure its quality against Manchester United,” he added. “We know that we have a lot of fans in Dublin and we hope to be able to give them a great match because they will surely pack the stadium. We hope to be able to show our fans in Dublin that we want to fight for all the competitions that Manchester will play this year.”