Alejandro Garnacho may be Manchester United fans’ latest wonderkid to get behind but a bizarre detail from his performance against Everton might not go down too well.
United have an extremely impressive history of bringing through academy prospects to become members of their first team, with at least one player whose been through the academy being in a matchday squad for well over 1000 games in-a-row.
It’s certainly paying dividends right now, with Marcus Rashford proving his worth to Erik ten Hag’s team with some excellent performances recently.
He was in superb form on Friday night, as United defeated Everton to make it into the fourth round of the FA Cup, assisting two goals and scoring from the penalty spot.
The latest star to come through the youth teams at United is Garnacho, with the forward dazzling fans with his performances in the shirt so far.
His winner against Fulham, before the World Cup break, certainly pumped up the excitement around the 18-year-old and on Friday he won the penalty that Rashford converted from.
Fans have already transferred a song they had for Cristiano Ronaldo to the teenager, in the wake of the former’s departure from the club.
However, Ronaldo’s influence on Garnacho may still be hanging around, with fans noticing that he was wearing a pair of CR7 underwear during the game.
United fans will certainly be weary of any youngster showing support or love for the five time Ballon d’Or winner after the way he left the club for the second time.
Ronaldo’s explosive interview, that led to his departure, saw him hit out at manager Erik ten Hag, the club, former teammates and the players he was at Old Trafford with at the time.
They won’t want him having any influence on any of the players who remain there, especially a youngster who they want to rely on for years to come.
Garnacho had described playing alongside the 37-year-old as a ‘dream’ earlier in the season, and even asked to use his then teammates celebration.
Ronaldo was all too happy to let the youngster use it at the time and the appearance of the former Real Madrid star’s boxers will concern some.
However, Garnacho also has plenty of love for Lionel Messi, and has actually described both men as the ‘Greatest of all Time’ on social media.
He could play alongside Messi for Argentina, due to his mother being Argentinian, despite the fact that he was born in Spain and played for their under 18s.
Garnacho played for Argentina’s under 20s and has been called up to a training squad for the senior men’s team but missed out on the World Cup, and he even liked a conspiracy theory as to why.
His attitude has previously been questioned by Ten Hag, who is no doubt desperate to get the best out of him, and fans were unhappy at a recent tattoo he got.
The youngster is out of contract at the end of the season but has reportedly held talks with United about extending his stay at the club.
