Manchester United starlet Alejandro Garnacho has enjoyed a remarkable rise into the first-team this season.
Alejandro Garnacho, 18, has made 23 appearances in all competitions this season, scoring four times and adding a further six assists to his tally of goalscoring contributions.
It looks like he has a manager in Erik ten Hag who will not only give him opportunities in the team, but back him when the haters come out in search of a new scapegoat.
As a youngster, Garnacho knows he needs to take his opportunities from the bench whenever they come, but to his credit he has done that. The former Atletico Madrid forward has a dangerous impact on most games he plays in.
However, former United striker Louis Saha has wanted that he will find starts hard to come by when Casemiro and Christian Eriksen return.
“Alejandro Garnacho is a very exciting player,” Saha told Paddy Power, as quoted by The Express.
“He has shown this season that he can be an impact player but at the same time, he can improve and be a starter. He has to learn a bit of tactical awareness and how to get the goals and assists.
“He will have to wait a bit because the team is full of quality. Going forward, there are a lot of players who can create and score goals. It’s not like United of a few years ago where there was a young Rashford and others where the quality wasn’t of the highest level. That’s not the case anymore and he [Garnacho] will need to learn and not expect to play every weekend.
“At the moment, I don’t see him getting into the starting lineup. When Christian Eriksen and Casemiro are back fit, there are some quality international players on the bench and he’s only 18-years-old. So, he can’t have guarantees – it’s not a small club here.
“If he thinks he deserves to play because of his talent, he’s wrong. Talent is not enough. Enough means that every time you play, you score or assist. He can’t expect anything right now. He’s only scored a few goals – which is good – but that’s nowhere near enough asking to be involved every week.”
United take on Barcelona in the Europa League on Thursday night and Garnacho could be involved again.
Garnacho needs to keep working hard
Saha is sending an important message to Garnacho here.
We already know there were some issues during pre-season, hence why Erik ten Hag didn’t give him minutes in the team at the start of the season, and I think Saha is playing on that by sending a warning to Garnacho.
It’s constructive criticism at best and that is no harm because we know that a lot of footballers struggle to deal with that.
