- 26 minutes ago
Alejandro Garnacho: The cause and solution for Amorim's latest Man Utd crisis
Robin Bairner
- 28 Feb 2025 04:45 CST
- 4 min read
Alejandro Garnacho could be the cure or the solution to what comes next at Manchester United, making the current crisis at Old Trafford a particularly thorny one for head coach Ruben Amorim.
The Portuguese has already shown he’s prepared to take a hard-line approach with players. Marcus Rashford had an attitude that he did not like and was exiled from the club at Aston Villa.
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STATS
Alejandro Garnacho
F (L), M (RL)
Man Utd
Alejandro Garnacho
F (L), M (RL)
Man Utd
At the same time as Rashford was being frozen out by Amorim for the derby against Manchester City, Garnacho was given a slap as he also missed that 2-1 victory.
Where the England man disappeared off the radar of the first team, Garnacho has stuck stubbornly on, showing enough of a change of attitude to be welcomed back tentatively to the fold.
But there is little doubt that the 20-year-old, who has an Estimated Transfer Value (ETV) of €66.5 million, would be playing more if Amorim trusted him.
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The former Atletico Madrid youth was instrumental as United chased down a 2-0 deficit last weekend against Everton to draw 2-2 and was rewarded with a start in midweek against Ipswich. The display at Goodison Park was a tantalising taste of what he might yet become under Amorim, but this requires both sides to make concessions.
It remains to be seen if Garnacho has the maturity to do this. Certainly, the stroppy manner in which he marched down the Old Trafford tunnel after being sacrificed when Patrick Dorgu was dismissed in midweek suggests he does not.
Garnacho and Amorim at a crossroads
There are reports the manager is eager to sell the winger, who has been linked with Chelsea and Napoli in recent weeks. This does no one - Garnacho, Amorim or Man Utd - any good.
But the boss wants team players. Garnacho, though, showed more of a hint of idol Cristiano Ronaldo in his Wednesday exit, casting an unwanted cloud over what turned out to be a credible victory for the Red Devils in what is increasingly proving to be a complicated season.
The coach’s problem is that his system demands the type of player that Garnacho is, but it also requires his stars to submit to the greater good.
On one hand, there is Garnacho the dashing game breaker, the figure who can explode past an opponent and make something magical happen. On the other, there’s the one who abandons the team in a strop.
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“I know that is a risk because you are taking one - maybe the only player who has one against one pace, but I felt the team was okay in the controlling of the game, almost half time, then you make the substitution. We have to choose someone to go out, we have to think about set pieces also, so it was Garnacho,” Amorim explained, setting his logic out perfectly.
Given United won 3-2 with 10 men, with Harry Maguire’s winner coming as a result of a set-piece, he got the call right.
He also promised to talk with Garnacho about the substitution after the game.
The outcome of those talks could not just be pivotal to the future of the Argentine at Man Utd, but also Amorim’s entire project. It is in everyone’s interests that they can come to an understanding.
