Manchester United are famous for giving young players a chance and the academy conveyor belt has consistently churned out world-class talents over the years.
The Red Devils hold the longest running record of having an academy graduate on the bench or playing XI since the last 85 years.
Famous names include the likes of Duncan Edwards and Bobby Charlton back when Sir Matt Busby was in charge to members of the Class of 92 under Sir Alex Ferguson like Gary Neville, Paul Scholes and David Beckham.
United’s academy stars
Current first-team stars Marcus Rashford and Scott McTominay have both come up through the academy and know what it means to be playing for the club.
And another star who is looking to cement his status as a first-team member is Alejandro Garnacho. The Argentine recently made his full debut for the club in the Europa League against Sheriff Tiraspol.
I don’t know if it’s real or if I’m dreaming pic.twitter.com/3GR80nObqU
— Alejandro Garnacho (@agarnacho7) October 27, 2022
The 18-year-old won seven duels, had three successful dribbles and won four fouls. He was also selected as man of the match by his club.
His display by watched by members of his family and a member of his inner circle even went on to thank the manager for trusting in the youngster.
But supporters have been clamouring for the youngster’s inclusion for some time now having witnessed his heroics last season as United clinched the FA Youth Cup.
But Ten Hag had so far resisted the temptation and was asked about it post match. “He deserved his chance, but there is still a lot of room for improvement,” the United manager had said.
“Especially in the defending part, in the pressing part, in the counter-press, in the defensive transition.
“I was not happy with him (in the early weeks of the season). The last weeks I was happy with him, a better attitude, more resilience.”
And that begged the question, what could the Argentina U-20 international have done to make the boss unhappy?
According to The Athletic, “Ten Hag said he needed to change some of his behaviour. One element of this in the past was that the teenager walked out of training with his laces untied. It was felt this was too lax an attitude for serious work and had to be corrected.
Garnacho headed in the right direction
“This all has to be part of the process to unleash the potential of any starlet. His confidence is what makes Garnacho a special talent. It just needs to be tuned in the right way,” the report mentioned.
And the academy product seems to be making progress and with Jadon Sancho and Antony not available for the must-win clash against Real Sociedad, there is a chance that fans might catch yet another glimpse of the highly-talented star.
His contract is set to expire next summer and initial talks have already been held and even though nothing has been signed so far, sources have indicated that the “player admits there are not many teams such as Manchester United in the sport, and the way he’s progressed in the past two years reflect his satisfaction at the club.”
United fans will be hoping for a long stay and hopefully Garnacho can do special things along the way and become the latest superstar from the United academy.
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