Alejandro Garnacho: Man Utd’s starboy is worth the hype

Neel Shelat

• 10 Mar 2023 14:35 CST
• 5 min read

The Manchester United youth academy is famed for being one of the best in England. You can always see its imprints on the senior squad, where the team’s most in-form player at the moment – Marcus Rashford – rose through the ranks at Carrington. Fellow squad members Scott McTominay and Brandon Williams graduated from there too, and now, it appears Manchester United have another first-team star in the making.

Alejandro Garnacho isn’t entirely homegrown as he spent most of his childhood in Spain, on the books of Getafe and later Atlético Madrid, who have been eager to take credit for his explosion. Indeed, he only moved to Manchester in 2020. He spent two years in the academy before slowly moving up to the senior squad in the initial stages of the 2022/23 season.

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Since then, he has already made over 15 appearances for the side and played a part in some crucial goals, including the derby decider as well as a last-minute strike to help his side advance from the round of 16 of the FA Cup.

He looks set to be rewarded for his impressive performances having been called up to the Argentine senior squad for the upcoming international break and stands a strong shot of making his debut. More importantly for his club side, a new contract will soon be announced as revealed by FootballTransfers in February. So why the hype?

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Direct and rapid dribbler

One of the reasons why Garnacho has featured so regularly in the first team is that he has some traits no one else in the squad playing his position (left winger) possesses. We will get onto those soon, but first let us take a quick look at his pizza chart.

It should be noted that these percentiles come from a relatively small sample size of about 500 minutes, but those are some very impressive numbers for an 18-year-old. He already has four goals and as many assists for the senior side this season, and the underlying numbers backing up the output is always an encouraging sign.

Stylistically, it is quite clear to see that Garnacho loves dribbling and is great at it, so let us focus on this aspect of his game. A look at his pass receptions event map gives us an idea of where he likes to get the ball, which is out wide on the left wing around the edge of the final third.

From here, he tends to be very direct in terms of driving towards goal. Garnacho has the highest average of progressive carries per 90 in the league among his team-mates at 5.42 and ranks highest in the league in terms of penalty area entries at 4.17 per 90.

Naturally, he takes a lot of people on in the process, which is why he has averaged 6.88 take-ons per 90 in the league this season. One of his key qualities is his great close control and tendency to take lots of touches while dribbling, which ensures that the ball stays quite close to him at all times so he can change direction in an instant if the defender commits to a challenge.

This strategy of picking the ball up and running in a straight line towards the defender is obviously a bit of a risky one, so Garnacho does also tend to lose the ball a fair bit (in fact, he has been tackled over 4 times per 90 in the Premier League so far). However, given the speed with which he runs at people, it is very difficult for them to turn the ball over and keep it under their control. Further, since most of his take-ons are attempted close to the touchline, tacklers often end up sending the ball out for a throw-in.

Another thing that helps is his rapid burst of acceleration which also enables him to change direction quite quickly. Watch him use that to absolutely skin the defender in the GIF below.

After getting to the danger area, Garnacho has shown that he can come up clutch in key moments as he did in the league against Fulham or against West Ham in the FA Cup, but on the whole, he could do with more composure in front of goal. This is something that Erik ten Hag and his coaching staff will help him work on.

Another area where there is scope for improvement in Garnacho’s game is his physicality. The 18-year-old winger has a lean frame and can be seen getting outmuscled by defenders at times, but this is something that should improve with age and as he spends yet more time with the senior squad.

Garnacho: A star in the making

Given his performances and impact in the last few months, tying Garnacho down to a longer contract is an absolute no-brainer for Manchester United. He has some attributes that make him a unique profile in the squad, and in terms of raw talent, there are few players of his age at his level in the league.

For the soon-to-be Argentina international too, this is a smart move. Developing at a world-class club like Manchester United under an elite coach like Ten Hag is an opportunity few teenagers can afford to refuse, especially with the promise of regular game time. Currently, he seems to be best off as an impact substitute (when tired legs among the opposition make his speed and dribbling qualities even more useful), so he will want to start impressing just as much from the get-go too.

There can be no doubt that Garnacho has the potential to become a key player for United in the future, or indeed elsewhere if he eventually moves on. Either way, we are potentially witnessing a star in the making.