Man United youngster Alejandro Garnacho is expected to feature in the friendlies against Cadiz and Real Betis.
Having enjoyed a productive start to the season for Manchester United, Alejandro Garnacho will be looking to impress Erik ten Hag during the club’s warm-weather training camp in Spain.
With a host of first-team stars absent, due to their respective involvement in the World Cup in Qatar, the young Argentine has the perfect opportunity to further develop his game ahead of the resumption of the domestic season.
The 18-year-old, who has registered four goal contributions in eight appearances this campaign, is part of the group that travelled to Cadiz ahead of the two mid-season friendlies against Cadiz CF and Real Betis. Much like several of the club’s other young players, he will be hoping to feature in both matches this week, but unlike the majority of his youth team teammates, he has already built a platform to work from.
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Garnacho scored his first senior goal away at Real Sociedad in November, and stole the show with his 28-minute cameo in the Carabao Cup victory over Aston Villa one week later. His two assists against the Midlands outfit, which included a perfectly-weighted pass for Scott McTominay’s goal, led to widespread praise from supporters, his teammates and his manager.
However, while the youngster was lauded for his impressive showings – which would later include him scoring his first Premier League goal – Ten Hag, and Marcus Rashford, were both keen for the player to keep his feet firmly on the ground – with the latter knowing exactly what it is like to come through the academy and make an impact.
After Garnacho scored in the 2-1 victory over Fulham on the eve of the World Cup, fellow attacker Rashford offered his advice about breaking into the club’s first-team. The England international, having broken through the ranks himself, is in a great position to advise the next generation of Unitedplayers.
Rashford encouraged Garnacho, as well as the club’s other starlets, to work as hard in training as they do in matches, insisting that it would benefit their performance in competitive games.
“Just train how you would play. You have to get used to the intensity that this team plays at and the only way to do that is to just do it in training. And then when the game does come it’s not going to be a surprise to you,” said Rashford, who is currently the Reds’ top goalscorer this season.
“You know what the intensity is like, you know what the strength of the players is like and then you just have to express yourself when you go out there. Don’t be nervous or anything like that. It’s a big moment for you so you just want to enjoy it.”
Like Rashford, Garnacho’s manager admitted that he was impressed with the progress the youngster has made, but was keen to discuss the next steps in his development. The Dutchman, while acknowledging that the young Argentine had improved since the start of the campaign, also suggested that there are parts of his game that need working on.
The Reds boss also claimed that if the 18-year-old focuses on improving – in both training and with his performances in matches – he could prove to be an ‘attractive’ player for the club.
“First of all, there is a moment where you follow their process during training sessions and you work all day with them,” Ten Hag said in November.
“You follow it, evaluate it and you are thinking about the potential that he has and you know, when you bring him into games, that his development will accelerate. That is what we see in this moment with Alejandro. From the start of the season he makes a lot of progress. We bring him in and the last games he played he did very well.
“Of course there are lacks where we have to work on, where we have to work on with him together, where he has to improve. When he keeps in this mindset he has a really good chance where he can be a really attractive player for us and I hope that he will keep continuing this progress and this development.”
