“I have decided to promote his to the first-team squad due Garnacho’s recent disastrous performance, thus guy will do better there”: Manchester United’s coach Ruben Amorim has promoted another academy sensation due to lack of quality in Alejandro Garnacho’s position
Manchester United’s Europa League Round of 16 tie against Real Sociedad is on a knife edge. The Red Devils drew 1-1 in San Sebastian in the first leg on Thursday night, with a Joshua Zirkzee goal initially giving Ruben Amorim’s side a 1-0 lead in the second half.
However, the home side struck back from the penalty spot just moments later. United captain Bruno Fernandes was deemed to have handled the ball, and after consulting the VAR monitor, the referee awarded the home side a penalty. Fernandes’ opposite number Mikel Oyazarbal converted.
It was a strong away performance in Europe for United, with Alejandro Garnacho grabbing the all-important assist.
Garnacho’s stats vs. Sociedad
It was a mixed bag of a night for 20-year-old Argentina international, Garnacho. His assist for Zirkzee’s goal was a good one, picking up the ball out on the right-hand side, delaying his pass and then weighting it perfectly for Zirkzee to run on to and fire into the back of the net with a lovely finish.
However, as good as that pass was, the winger struggled to make chances of his own count in key moments. This was something Samuel Luckhurst picked up on in his post-match ratings.
The Manchester Evening News journalist gave Garnacho a 6/10 for his efforts, and described his efforts on goal, which regularly found the side-netting, as ‘infuriating’.
Indeed, the United number 17’s stats on Sofascore suggest the mixed night he had in San Sebastian. He had 22 touches and created two chances, yet had five shots, finding the target with just two of them, and won one out of five duels.
In many ways, the game against Sociedad summed up Garnacho’s season. His goals and assist numbers are impressive, with 15 in 42 games across all competitions, but they have tended to come in clumps rather than consistently throughout the season.
If he does struggle for form towards the end of the season, perhaps Amorim will consider giving a debut to one of Carrington’s most exciting players.
Man Utd’s next academy sensation
Garnacho is one of several exciting academy products to break through into the Old Trafford first team in recent years. Others include the likes of Kobbie Mainoo, Toby Collyer, and, more recently, Chido Obi.
Perhaps the next in line will be 16-year-old attacker Amir Ibragimov. The England under-16 international has been impressive for the Red Devils academy this season.
In 22 appearances across all competitions, he has seven goals and four assists to his name.
One of the most exciting things about Ibragimov is the fact that he is a genuine goalscorer. Earlier this season, he scored a hat-trick against Red Devils’ arch-rivals Leeds United, showing a big threat in front of goal.
With that in mind, it might be unsurprising that the youngster has been compared to one of the all-time great United players, and the club’s top goalscorer, Wayne Rooney. Journalist Jamie Jackson claimed that the England under-16 international plays the “Rooney role” for the United academy.
If Ibragimov gets anywhere near the levels that Rooney hit whilst in a United shirt, he will have had a successful career. The former United captain played 559 times for the club, scoring 253 times and grabbing 138 assists.
There is no doubt that Ibragimov is an exciting talent. Maybe a first-team debut will come too soon for him this season, but United fans could surely expect to see Ibragimov make his full debut sooner rather than later.
