After a stellar rookie season, the Argentine winger has the mentality to make history at Old Trafford.
Manchester United love wingers, from George Best to Ryan Giggs to Cristiano Ronaldo. In a remarkable first season in the Red Devils’ first team, Alejandro Garnacho has reignited that relationship.
Garnacho led United’s FA Youth Cup-winning team in 2022 and was a first-team candidate last year. He has exploded this season, scoring four goals and giving six assists in 10 starts and 19 substitute appearances for Erik ten Hag.
After his amazing climb, Garnacho was named one of the world’s top nine footballers born in 2004 or after in the first NXGN Nine on Tuesday.
Unfortunately, a severe ankle injury versus Southampton ended his season and stopped him from making his Argentina debut. Ten Hag anticipates him back by the conclusion of the season, when United will strive to win the FA Cup, Europa League, Carabao Cup, and Champions League.
GOAL follows United’s exciting winger from 16, when he drew the club’s attention, to Premier League match-winner.
United fans sing “Viva Garnacho, running down the wing, hear United sing” to the 18-year-old, who has bonded with them.
Sound familiar? Since Ronaldo’s departure, Garnacho has become fans’ new idol, and the chant shows how much they believe in the adolescent.
Fans like Garnacho for more than his talent. Despite being from Spain and Argentina, he graduated at United and was motivated by the club’s thrill-seeking youth.
“I think that is in our blood, our style of football is designed to get supporters out of their chairs,” United academy head Nick Cox tells GOAL. “Be imaginative and play with style. Actual Manchester United stuff.
Alejandro has accepted the reality that our fans like entertaining players and young players they consider their own.
“Although he arrived at 16 from Spain, I suppose people consider him ours. Our followers got to witness him grow from the start and enjoy the ride.”
Spanish scout Gerardo Guzman recommended Garnacho to United after his success at Atletico Madrid’s academy. Staff saw the winger’s skill and passion for the game in the videos.
Cox recalls: “He was swift, imaginative, and enjoyed one-on-one duels. Even if it’s harder to tell from distance, you could tell he was a young child who liked football.”
Due to the coronavirus outbreak, convincing the 16-year-old to go to Manchester was difficult. United courted Garnacho via video calls due to travel restrictions.
However, the player’s drive to advance helped the team.
“He knew that he wanted to be the best footballer he could possibly be and would have gone to any length to do that,” he says. “He had a hunger to play in the Premier League and he had a real appetite to play for Manchester United.”
Garnacho arrived in England determined to join United, but Manchester was still under Covid restrictions in September 2020.
For most of his first year, Garnacho and his teammates could only train 75 minutes each day and were banned from the changing room.
“For a young kid to arrive in those conditions and integrate into a new football club with a new language is not easy,” Cox says. “He started slowly and needed time to adjust in his first year with us, but that’s okay. We’d always be patient. He grabbed attention in his second year.”
Garnacho played for the Under-18s and U23s in his second season, but he shined in the FA Youth Cup, scoring seven times in six matches, five at Old Trafford.
As United advanced in the tournament, more fans came and Garnacho and his teammates played better.
Garnacho’s youth team performances won him a few minutes under Ralf Rangnick and a spot on United’s pre-season tour.
It wasn’t until October’s Europa League encounter at home to Sheriff that he made his Ten Hag debut, playing brilliantly.
His debut goal came a week later against Real Sociedad, and his first Premier League goal was a 90th-minute winner at Fulham. Garnacho set up Marcus Rashford’s winning goal against Manchester City, scored against Leeds, and delivered a late strike to beat West Ham in the FA Cup fifth round in the last three months.
Cox is proud of Garnacho’s rise in the first squad and his ability to reproduce his youth team success on the largest platform.
“That’s the hardest jump for any young footballer, that transition from youth football to first team football,” adds. It didn’t happen immediately again. He was a young developer who needed to learn, progress, and have guidance from his teammates to grasp first-team football. The first third of the season was spent earning the right to start games.”
