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Ruben Amorim sees Alejandro Garnacho’s future at Manchester United.
Garnacho, 20, made his first start in eight games in the FA Cup third round tie away to Arsenal, having last lined up in the home defeat to Nottingham Forest on December 7.
Amorim dropped Garnacho and Marcus Rashford from the matchday squad in the win at Manchester City on December 15 and there has been uncertainty over the Argentine’s future.
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United have refused to rule out any academy sales amid the Premier League’s profitability and sustainability rules and Napoli have been linked with a move for Garnacho in the winter transfer window.
Garnacho, developed as a left-sided winger by United in their academy, has had to adjust to a new role in Amorim’s 3-4-3 formation as one of two No.10s behind the striker.
Rashford outlined his desire for a “new challenge” two days after his derby day omission and he has not played for United since. Garnacho, in stark contrast, has appeared in every match since his recall to the squad in the League Cup quarter-final defeat to Tottenham on December 19.
When asked if he sees Garnacho as having a bright future at United, Amorim said: “That is clear. He has talent. He needs to learn to play in a different position. He needs to play better inside.
“He improves a lot in the recovering position when he doesn’t have the ball. But doing that, sometimes he’s not in the right place to make transitions like he was in the past. I prefer to defend and then build up with all the team to reach the final third.
“He’s finding the best way to play in this system. He’s improving during training. He started the last game. Let’s see tomorrow. I think he changed the way he sees himself.”
Garnacho went eight games without a start
United have not won a game in normal or extra time since the derby a month ago. They lost four games in succession before their recent uplifting draws with Liverpool and Arsenal, beating the latter on a penalty shootout to progress to the FA Cup fourth round.
Amorim’s side play their first home game of 2025 against Southampton on Thursday night. United have lost their past three home fixtures to Nottingham Forest, Bournemouth and Newcastle and Amorim complained they were “easy” to play against.
“I think we want to be a team that is hard to play,” he opined. “It’s like I had this feeling, especially at home in the last games, that we were easy to play. And we have to be honest with that.
“So if we face the competition the right way, we will be tough to beat for any opponent. So that’s what I wanted. That’s what I felt in the last two games.
“It’s a [pride] thing. Yeah, I think that we need to think about that and we have to feel it.”
United have a goal difference of -5 and No.9 Rasmus Hojlund has managed only two Premier League goals all season – fewer than summer signing Joshua Zirkzee.
Amorim complained about United’s struggles in front of goal, making a new striker signing this year inevitable. “I think, again, we have a lack of goals.
Zirkzee won the shootout at Arsenal
“This team in the past scored a lot of goals from transition. Not from building up in the half of the opponent’s pitch. So we’ll see tomorrow. We have a lot to improve.
“I think we, as a team, are not used to spend a lot of time in the last third of the opponent. We had some games here that we lost and we had that control, but the threat was not there.
“And we have to have time to train that. And the players have to spend a lot of time during training, during the game, to be good at this moment. And if you see – and I saw a lot of games before – we scored a lot of goals like Garnacho doing transitions, Rashford. But then you see the difference of our goals is like always negative and it’s still negative.
“And I think that is the biggest problem in our team. The lack of goals and the lack of ability to play in the last third of the opponent, to control the games, to control more of the games. So we know that.:
“We need time to train. We try to pass the information, but it’s harder for us to score in that way than in transitions.”