Sunday's 3-1 win over Arsenal was the first game Alejandro Garnacho was not named in the Manchester United matchday squad this season.
He was handed his first senior appearance of the campaign in the opening 2-1 loss to Brighton, his third overall. After a memorable 2021/22 season which saw him score in front of a packed Old Trafford in the academy’s 3-1 FA Youth Cup final win over Nottingham Forest in May, big hopes are being placed on the Argentine.
He’s scored 22 times in 53 youth games since his 2020 arrival from Atletico Madrid and has tallied four goals in as many matches for his country’s under-20s side. Garnacho faces the nearly impossible task to outmanoeuvre trio Marcus Rashford, Anthony Martial and idol Cristiano Ronaldo for game time this season but his inclusion in the first team squad should come as encouragement.
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This comes after being taken on the pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia. He didn’t play for the whole trip but did get run outs in the behind closed doors 4-1 friendly win over Wrexham - in which he scored - and in the 1-1 draw with Rayo Vallecano at Old Trafford.
The latter was the first time home fans were able to see Garnacho since the FA Youth Cup win. He put in a promising performance, the crowd getting audibly excited when he was on the ball.
And they may yet see more of the 18-year-old. United face a packed schedule between now and the start of the World Cup, mostly playing two games a week.
The Reds face trips to Moldovan and Cypriot opposition in FC Sheriff and Omonoia in the Europa League group stages and youngsters such as Garnacho, Zidane Iqbal and Charlie Savage are expected to feature against them, should the campaign be going to plan.
Ten Hag has a squad of 30-plus players to manage, many of whom will not receive regular game time. In Wednesday’s press conference ahead of Thursday’s visit of Real Sociedad in their European opener, the Dutchman hinted that he may utilise the depths of his roster.
“Maybe I can not keep them all happy every game,” he said. “But everyone gets the game time if they perform well - quite clear. As I've said, we need everyone, we have a lot of games to cover."
Garnacho and his academy colleagues can take encouragement from his comments and use any opportunity they may get to impress their boss.
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