Alejandro Garnacho is close to signing a new contract with Manchester United after Erik ten Hag explained what he expects from the young winger.
Garnacho has broken through to become a regular member of the first-team squad under Ten Hag this season. The 18-year-old has made 21 of his 23 appearances for United since the Dutchman took the reins in the summer.
So far, he has two goals and five assists for the club and his form has been good enough to earn appearances ahead of the likes of Jadon Sancho and Anthony Elanga on the wing. However, his status in the team was made clear on the weekend when he was sacrificed as United held on for the win against Crystal Palace.
Garnacho was brought on as a substitute for Wout Weghorst in the 59th minute, but was then substituted himself in the 87th minute for Harry Maguire. The red card for Casemiro and Jeffrey Schlupp’s goal prompted Ten Hag to take Garnacho off and shut up shop for the three points.
He later explained to MUTV: "First, we had to see how they changed and then we had to see and anticipate how we could close the gaps and be compact, and how we would get away from our goal but also still have a threat into attack.
"I think we had to change something and it's not always nice, like bringing off a player who would brought on, but that is in the interests of the team and the player has to accept that."
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Such decisions are a part of being a young, inexperienced player in the side, but the reality check does not seem to have been taken the wrong way by Garancho. After receiving plenty of interest from elsewhere, he is reportedly ready to commit his future to United.
Spanish newspaper AS reports that Garnacho is ready to sign a new contract with United until June 2028. His deal was due to expire in June 2024 and Garnacho’s representatives had held talks with Real Madrid and former club Atletico Madrid over a potential move.
However, United appear to have been successful in persuading one of their standout young players to stay put. Last month, Mirror Football reported that United were pulling out all the stops for Garnacho and were even willing to hand him an eight-year contract.
United are willing to pay the youngster £32,000 per week, with AS reporting that the club wants to use him as the face of their campaigns in South America. Although he was born in Madrid, Garnacho chose to represent Argentina, the country of his mother’s birth.
He joined United’s academy from Atleti in October 2020 for a fee of around £420,000 and signed his first professional deal in July 2021. An announcement for Garnacho’s new deal is reportedly ‘imminent’, with image rights the only remaining loose end that needs to be tied up.
