Alejandro Garnacho - Who is that guy?
Where did this young, promising Manchester United forward come from and does he have the potential to live up to the hype?
You may have heard about Manchester United’s young argentine winger, scoring goals in the Europa League and in the Premier League more recently with a last minute winner against Fulham at Craven Cottage. But where did he come from, and how does he fit into Erik Ten Hag’s plans for the club?
Early Years
Alejandro Garnacho Ferreyra - born in July of 2004 in Madrid, Spain to a Spanish father and Argentinian mother. Garnacho represented Spain in the U18 level and Argentina at U20, yet to make an appearance despite getting a call up from Argentina early in the year.
He joined Atletico Madrid’s youth system in 2015 from Getafe before moving to Manchester United’s youth system in October 2020, with United paying a £420,000 fee for the young argentine.
While playing for Atletico’s Infantil B, he displayed his natural goalscoring instincts and became Spain’s top scorer at that level in 2016. Growing up idolizing Cristiano Ronaldo he wore the #7 shirt, taking the spanish youth league by storm, making his U19 debut at only 15 in the 19/20 season.
But his impressive performances at the youth level unsurprisingly caught the attention of Europe’s biggest clubs. United fended off interest from Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund as the lure of treading the same path as Ronaldo seemingly made the difference for Garnacho.
According to Spanish media outlet Marca, Garnacho was a jewel of their academy and Atleti were doing everything in their power to persuade him to stay at the club.
Signing to Manchester United - His Club Debut
In his debut season with United’s U18s he has 7 goals and a further 4 assists in 18 appearances, scoring a hatrick against Stoke City.
Despite coming into the club and impressing he was still lacking that extra something and needed time to adapt to english football, with other youth players Charlie McNeill and Joe Hugill being favoured over him.
Despite this, Garnacho continued to improve his game in the youth setup and was offered his first professional contract with the club in July, 2021.
“It’s a dream come true to sign my first professional contract with Manchester United,” Garnacho said on Instagram. “Proud day for me and my family, thanks to everyone who has helped me get to this moment.”
He had worked hard during the summer and impressed coaching staff at carrington, upping his game by levels and making him a joy to watch when running at oppositions backlines. In 21 appearances playing in the under 18s, the winger has 17 direct goal contributions including 2 goals and an assist in the UEFA Youth League. He was United’s top scorer at academy level, making his first appearance at Old Trafford in the FA youth cup 4-2 win against Scunthorpe United, scoring the 2nd goal with an outrageous overhead kick.
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The FA Youth Cup Final
Since Garnacho continues to impress, he helped his club get to the fa youth cup final in May 2022 after winning all games leading up to the final and scoring or assisting in all games with 8 g/a going into the Cup final against Nottingham Forest.
The game started with Captain Rhys Bennet’s header putting United in front, but Joshua Powell soon levelled the score for Forest. Deep into the second half, Garnacho was fouled in the penalty box and picked himself up ready to score. He puts it past the keeper going straight down the middle, putting United 2-1 up with 13 minutes to go. Celebrating with his icon Ronaldo’s SIUUU!
Later on in added time, Garnacho scored his second of the night with a deflected strike giving the reds a lead of 3-1 going into full time. Netting his 18th and 19th goal for Manchester United, leading them to their first FA Youth Cup in over 10 years. Manchester United hadn’t won an FA Youth Cup since 2011, with a side containing Paul Pogba; Jesse Lingard and Ravel Morrison beat Harry Maguires Sheffield United.
With a stadium full of fans, the crowd were heard singing “Viva Garnacho” at full time, a rendition of the ‘Viva Ronaldo’ chant.
“That boy could be in any stadium in the world and he wouldn’t care,” said coach Travis Binnion. “That’s his make-up. A few of them are like that and that’s why they are going to have good careers.”
At only 18, already winning silverware for his club is a major achievement for the young argentine with new manager Erik Ten Hag taking a notice in the top scorer amongst the United Youth. His future in the first team is almost certain and could go on to be an integral part of the new managers plans in increasing squad depth in his position.
United’s head of Academy, John Cox was joined by club captain Harry Maguire too present Garnacho with the U18 Player of the Year trophy on Wednesday night, and he praised the youngster for adapting to life quickly in England.
“Making his first-team debut last month was the culmination of a great deal of hard work from Alejandro himself, his family and a dedicated group of Academy staff. The call-up that he received from Argentina is another fantastic indicator of the progress he has made this season. “He remains grounded considering all that he has achieved this year and we know that he will continue to grow within our youth development system.”
The First Team - Last Minute Winners
Wearing the #49 for the Manchester United first team, he only recently got his professional debut with the club, in Ten Hag’s first 2 games, which didn’t go too well. He was also lucky enough to be included in the new gaffers preseason squad along with other promising youngsters to break through like Zidane Iqbal, Ethan Laird and Charlie Savage.
As the season has progressed, Garnacho has been continuously training with the first team since returning from pre season along with other United youngsters that Ten Hag has seemed to take a liking to like Iqbal and Shoretire. He is also regularly in the squad on game days, making appearances in games when he is needed.
Garnacho has been a deciding factor in games for United this season, including the league cup game against Aston Villa, who United lost to in the premier league in Unai Emery’s first game as Villa manager just days before facing them in the League Cup. Manchester United came from behind to beat Villa 4-1 and advance into the round of 16, with Garnacho coming on for Anthony Martial in the 62nd minute and later finding Bruno Fernandes to make it 3-2. Later on in the game, Garnacho pulled off a world class assist in added time, for Scott Mctominay to place it in the back of the net and make it 4-2.
The next game after Villa was Fulham away in the premier league, just 3 days after, where Alejandro Garnacho was again the man of the hour. He was substituted on for Anthony Martial in the 72nd minute with the game at a draw and Fulham dominating the 2nd half. The game went into added time and all hope of a winner from United looked lost, United break on the attack in the 93rd minute. Eriksen sees a gap and Garnacho darts through 2 Fulham defenders to find the ball and put it in the back of the net, GOAL Manchester United. The game ends 2-1 and all everyone can talk about is Alejandro Garnacho. Manchester United’s new star boy.
Garnacho has shone everytime hes been given an opportunity, especially recently in the Fulham game that showed the teams tenacity and drive to never give up even in the last few seconds. His performances this month in the Europa League, Premier League and the League Cup have put him amongst Casemiro and David De Gea for the player of the month award which he subsequently won earlier in the week.
So where does Garnacho factor into Ten Hag’s plans for the rest of the season? With games happening every couple days, especially after the world cup, squad depth is needed to keep players fit enough for other competitions. Garnacho hasn’t started a lot so far this season, most of his game time has been as a substitute in which he has proven to improve the side with his pace and ability to run at defenders. With Martial injury prone and Ten Hag using Rashford in a striker role, Garnacho could be a short term solution to a long term problem. Jadon Sancho has had a lackluster start to the season so Garnacho could be fighting for a spot on that left wing, depending on the striker situation which could also change in the January transfer window.
Garnacho is in talks to sign a new 5-year contract placing him on £50,000 a week, he’s currently on £5,000 a week, with the higher ups at MUFC confident that the deal will happen. United are intending on Garnacho to be an important player in the present and the future - (Twitter: @FabrizioRomano).
Despite the issues with attacking options at Manchester United, Garnacho is only 18 and making headlines already. He’s shown determination, skill and courage in a Manchester United shirt and Ten Hag will know he can depend on him in games where he may want to rest his starting wingers or in situations where a change is needed.