Manchester United ace Bruno Fernandes has revealed what delayed Alejandro Garnacho from breaking into Manchester United’s first team.
Alejandro Garnacho made his senior start for the Red Devils in the Europa League game against Sheriff Tiraspol.
Despite impressing new manager Erik Ten Hag, the Argentine youngster was far from justifying Ten Hag’s decision to include him in the first-team starting lineup.
However, Manchester United’s Europa League final group game against Real Sociedad was watershed moment for Garnacho.
The 18-year-old Academy product scored Manchester United’s only goal after latching onto a through ball from Cristiano Ronaldo to score for the Red Devils.
The 1-0 win was not enough for United to top their Europa League group – meaning they could face Barcelona, Ajax or Juventus in the first knockout round.
But Fernandes heaped praise on his teenage team-mate for turning his mentality around in recent months after issues over the summer.
The Portuguese playmaker said: “He was good but he knows we expect at lot from him. He’s still really young. He’s doing really well.”
Bruno Fernandes buttressed what led to his non-inclusion in the squad despite joining the team in preseason.
“At the beginning of the season, not at his best, on the pre-season tour he didn’t have the best attitude that he should have and that’s why he didn’t get his chances until now”, the Portuguese star added.
Fernandez stated that Allejandro Garnacho didn’t get his chances before because he was not good enough in training and not good enough mentality-wise.
However, he admitted that the fortunes have changed for the youngster after he worked on his attitude and performance.
Now, he is getting chances because he’s changed that, he’s training better, he’s having a better attitude and he deserves his chances.
Despite Manchester United’s failure to qualify straight to the Europa League round of 16 after the win against Real Sociedad, all the players were reportedly happy with Garnacho after the goal.
It was reported Ten Hag was unhappy with Garnacho when he walked out of a training session with his boot laces untied, said to be a sign of his “lax” attitude.
He even confirmed publicly he was “not happy with him” but again reiterated after his full debut his attitude and resilience had improved.
Alejandro Garnacho
Born on 1 July 2004 in Madrid, Spain, Alejandro Garnacho is a professional football player who plays as a winger for Premier League side Manchester United and Argentina youth team.
Garnacho started his youth career at Getafe in Spain before joining Atletico Madrid youth in 2015.
After five years with Atletico Madrid youth, Alejandro Garnacho joined Manchester United youth in 2020.
After two years with the youth team, Garnacho has broken into Manchester United’s first team.
He made his first senior Manchester United appearance on 27 October in the Red Devils’ 3-0 Europa League game win over Sheriff Tiraspol.
Erik Ten Hag praised him for immense improvement and admitted his satisfaction with the youngster after he previously wrote him off for a lackluster performance.
Garnacho scored his first Manchester United goal on 3 November in the Red Devils’ 1-0 Europa League win over Real Sociedad in Spain.
Garnacho is yet to break into Argentina’s first team but has made 8 appearances for the U18 and U20 levels, scoring 5 goals.
Garnacho won the 2021-22 FA Youth Cup with Manchester United U18. He also won the 2021-22 Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year.
