Former Manchester United academy coach Justin Cochrane enjoyed watching Alejandro Garnacho score against Fulham more than most earlier this month because he knew the player's finish had been inspired by a personalised training programme.
Garnacho signed for United from Atletico Madrid in 2020 and he was the star of the Under-18s' FA Youth Cup campaign last season, contributing seven goals and three assists on the path to extending the club's excellent history in the competition.
The winger has been promoted to the first-team this term and he's now looking to solidify his starting position on the left.
ALSO READ: United have spent £8million on a player who may never play for the first team
Garnacho has made tremendous progress since his move to Manchester two years ago and he singled out Cochrane for a role in his development just before he departed to join Brentford, claiming the coach had been 'very attentive' and 'supportive'.
Cochrane held the position of Head of Player Development at Old Trafford and he recently opened up about working with Garnacho, revealing that academy staff built a tailored training plan for him that would improve his qualities in key areas.
That included implementing 'no chopping' of the ball in training, which Garnacho adhered to when scoring against Fulham.
“It was interesting, because I had to get to know him initially,” Cochrane told the Training Ground Guru Podcast. “His English wasn’t great, I had a few words in Spanish, but we built up a bit of a connection.
“We had a clear development plan for him and he followed that. It’s gone quicker than I thought, but he’s an example of connecting with the player, getting to know him, understanding him and then having a bit of context.
“He listened to me and he listened to the other coaches about some key development traits that you see him do now when he is playing for Manchester United. It’s fascinating for me to see, because it further cements my ideas on coaching.
“At Manchester United, if you were going to get in as a winger, you had to challenge Anthony Elanga, Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and now they have bought Antony. So for Garnacho, he had to make sure that he’s really good at what he’s good at.
"And he is excellent on transition, he makes darting runs in behind, he is quick and he can finish. So we had a clear development programme for him that he was part of, that he had insight into. He contributed to it and we spoke in detail about the areas.
“One of the areas actually was that we said about no 'chopping'. He used to go down on his left foot and always want to come back onto his right. And one of the things I said (was), ‘Look, in the next few games, when you get it on your left foot, take the left-foot shot. So before you chop, you’ve got to have two left-foot strikes before you can come inside.’
“Something so small like that made a difference to him and then we laughed, because I used to say to him ‘no chops.’ And then when you see him score for the first team in the Europa League and he takes it on his left foot you are delighted - and then he takes it on his left foot the other day again.
“So, listen, that’s not me and the coaches at Manchester United, it’s all him. But you know that you tried to have an impact on the development side with him.”
READ NEXT:
