As the chorus of ‘Viva Garnacho’ started to spread around Old Trafford, the flag of Argentina was unfurled in one section of the Stretford End.
United supporters have long had an affinity for Argentinian players, dating back to the treatment of David Beckham upon his return from the 1998 World Cup, drawn from an antipathy towards England’s national team among the match-going support.
But it was also the aggression and single-mindedness of players like Carlos Tevez and Gabriel Heinze that struck a chord with United fans. ‘Grinta’, as Erik ten Hag would call it, when identifying similar qualities in Lisandro Martinez.
Alejandro Garnacho is not exactly cut in the same mould as those compatriots of his — less ‘grinta’, more Insta at times — but he shares a streak of tenacity with them that United supporters find endearing.
It was there to see in Thursday’s 2-1 win over Rangers, which was Garnacho’s liveliest display under Ruben Amorim so far and his Old Trafford career in microcosm: raw, exuberant, the good kind of selfishness; lacking in a killer’s instinct at times, although leaving you in no doubt as to his potential.
But the question is no longer whether Old Trafford will see Garnacho realise that potential. It is whether they will see him again full stop.
(Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
The next 10 days will likely decide the 20-year-old’s future as a United player. Should he depart before the visit of Crystal Palace on 2 February, a day before the window closes, Thursday will have been Garnacho’s last Old Trafford outing. Napoli and Chelsea are both circling.
“I don’t know what will happen,” Ruben Amorim told TNT Sports. “We have these players, so let’s improve the team and think about the players that are here. Until the window is closed, anything can happen.”
That was not a denial. There was no insistence that he wants Garnacho to stay either. Just an acknowledgment that anything can happen and, therefore, might. It was about as revealing as a straight bat answer can be.
Of all United’s players, it has been argued Garnacho is the most awkward fit in Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 system. He is certainly not an integral part of it. Since being dropped from the squad entirely for the Manchester derby, he has only started three of the last nine games.
Yet while speaking later in his post-match press conference, Amorim gave lie to the idea Garnacho is entirely incompatible with his project moving forwards. “I think he’s improving in every aspect of the game,” he said.
“He was better today playing inside, also outside, changing positions. He’s improving the recovering position. You can see it until 90 minutes he’s always there recovering and helping, sometimes showing some frustration and that is good because he wants more.
“I think he has potential to be so much better in every situation in the game. What I can say is he understood what I was trying to do, (that) was really clear.”
The penny is dropping, and why wouldn’t it? Garnacho is still at a developmental, impressionable age. He is a right-footed left winger who, instead of cutting in from the flank, is now tasked with playing slightly narrower and often closer to goal.
The idea that such a shift is beyond him, and that this has already been conclusively proven two months into Amorim’s reign, should be for the birds. If anything, United look a more potent, threatening side with Garnacho than without him.
No player in United’s squad takes more shots over the course of 90 minutes. After seven on his start last week against Southampton, there were another five against Rangers — on both occasions, the most of any player on the pitch. Garnacho’s finishing has to improve but he is a persistent threat.
With the speed and ability to run off the designated centre-forward in Amorim’s 3-4-2-1, he adds dynamism to an attack that is sorely lacking in that quality. He is not simply a player this goal-shy United need to keep, but one they need to play.
The trouble is, Garnacho is also that rarest of things: a United player their rivals would pay good money for. A sale would ease some of the club’s issues in regard to complying with financial fair play regulations and would raise cash to reinvest in Amorim’s squad.
That, more than any concerns about tactical fit under Amorim, is why United will reluctantly consider offers for Garnacho. And that word feels significant.
For when was the last time United ‘reluctantly’ sold a player? It is not a position that the club, given its size, stature and historical spending power has typically found itself in. Cristiano Ronaldo in 2009, probably. At least then the lure of Real Madrid and a world-record £80m transfer fee was undeniable.
(Oli Scarff/AFP via Getty Images)
But today, what would it say United found themselves reluctantly selling a player once again, only this time not because the offer and the opportunity were too good for either the club or the player to refuse, but out of grim, basic, financial necessity? Essentially, as penance for years of overspending?
Ronaldo’s exit to Madrid brought no shame on United. But if done solely to raise cash or satisfy spending rules, Garnacho’s would be a far greater indictment of the club’s ownership and management and the decisions they have taken over the past decade.
‘Viva Garnacho’ is a variation on Ronaldo’s old song, of course. Its airing during the second half of Thursday’s game, not long after the 20-year-old hit the post, was long, loud and pointed, as though they hoped they would have the chance to sing it again.
(Header photo: Craig Foy/SNS Group via Getty Images)
