Louis Saha feels teenage winger Alejandro Garnacho is not yet ready to be a regular starter for Manchester United.
Garnacho is enjoying a breakthrough season at Old Trafford after shining in the club's youth team last term. Much of his best work, though, has come as an impact substitute, with all four of his Premier League goal contributions coming off the bench, including a dramatic later winner at Fulham and the assist for Marcus Rashford in the Manchester derby win.
He was handed his first league start since New Year's Eve against Leeds United last week but was criticised by some sections of the fanbase after spurning a number of opportunities. Garnacho redeemed himself in the return fixture a matter of days later, though, scoring the second in a 2-0 win.
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Speaking in an interview with Paddy Power, former United striker Saha said it's that level of inconsistency that means Garnacho isn't yet ready to start regularly, but sees no reason why the forward cannot do so in the coming years.
“Alejandro Garnacho is a very exciting player," said Saha. "He has shown this season that he can be an impact player but at the same time, he can improve and be a starter. He has to learn a bit of tactical awareness and how to get the goals and assists.
“He will have to wait a bit because the team is full of quality. Going forward, there are a lot of players who can create and score goals. It’s not like United of a few years ago where there was a young Rashford and others where the quality wasn’t of the highest level. That’s not the case anymore and he [Garnacho] will need to learn and not expect to play every weekend.
“At the moment, I don’t see him getting into the starting line-up. When Christian Eriksen and Casemiro are back fit, there are some quality international players on the bench and he’s only 18 years old. So, he can’t have guarantees – it's not a small club here.
“If he thinks he deserves to play because of his talent, he’s wrong. Talent is not enough. Enough means that every time you play, you score or assist. He can't expect anything right now. He’s only scored a few goals – which is good – but that’s nowhere near enough asking to be involved every week.”
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