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In Alejandro Garnacho, Manchester United have found an excellent talent on which to plan their future success.
The Argentine celebrates his 19th birthday today, 15 months on from making his debut during a 1-1 draw with Chelsea under Ralf Rangnick.
But it was under Erik ten Hag that Garnacho’s development vaulted forward and, after an initial settling-in period that seemingly involved plenty of tough love, the winger became a valuable member of the first team squad at the tender of of 18.
Despite the manager lacking attacking options right at the start of last season, and despite the obvious talent of the academy graduate, Garnacho did not make his first start for Man United until late in October, with his manager and teammates pointing to a marked improvement in his attitude once his time eventually came.
That first start against Sheriff Tiraspol gave Old Trafford a taste of things to come, with his direct approach to the game a refreshing chance of pace from some of United’s other options. His determination to beat his marker and attack the penalty area on the ball evoked memories of the likes of Ryan Giggs and Andrei Kanchelskis – the sort of exciting wide players adored by the Red Army over the years.
His group stage winner against Real Sociedad – the first of Garnacho’s six goals so far – was everything fans want to see in a young attacker: sheer pace and enthusiasm to latch onto a through ball, the strength to hold off his man, and the ingenuity to surprise the keeper with a supposedly-weak-foot finish into the top corner. The fact that he was assisted by Cristiano Ronaldo – whose number seven shirt could soon be his – makes the narrative all the sweeter.
All that was missing was the right result. United needed a two-goal cushion to top their Europa League group that evening and Garnacho’s impact was not enough to secure it. But barely a week later he more than made up for that, bagging the winner against Fulham from the substitutes’ bench to send fans off to the World Cup with tongues wagging over United’s newest wonderkid.
He had already proven the quality, now he had proven the impact. Next up he had to prove what sort of stage he could shine on. The biggest, it turns out.
In the Manchester derby in January, when The Red Devils’ form was at its peak, a win over The Citizens was needed to keep the momentum going. It looked to be slipping away when Garnacho was introduced after the 70 minute-mark, with United 1-0 down. A goal from Bruno Fernandes levelled things up soon after, but it was the youngster who put the winner on a plate for Marcus Rashford.
Latching onto a pass from the Portuguese playmaker, Garnacho went on to do his thing, driving at the box, squaring up Nathan Ake, and using an exceptional blend of strength and skill to flummox his marker and create the all-important space needed to open the lane to Rashford.
Alejandro Garnacho ended the season scoring six times and assisting thrice in all competitions, making for a direct goal involvement roughly every 134 minutes.
If he can maintain that kind of output next season, when he is expected to seem more regular action for both club and country, Manchester United and Argentina – along with their fans and managers – are certainly in for a treat.
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