If goals and assists are the yardstick by which a player’s progress is measured, then Garnacho is on the rise. His brace against West Ham in the 23rd round of the Premier League on February 4th gave the Argentine midfielder seven goals in the 2023/24 season, two more than last year.
Garnacho’s improved season
Garnacho’s playing has gotten better and better. The fact that he has been consistently placed in the starting lineup by coach Erik ten Hag shows the Dutch strategist’s trust in the teenage talent.
For Garnacho, his career at Man Utd changed forever after his stunning overhead kick against Everton in the Premier League on November 26. That spectacular goal started a series of sublimation days for the 19-year-old midfielder in a Man Utd shirt.
Since his flying overhead kick that silenced Everton’s frenetic Goodison Park, Garnacho has added five goals and two assists in his next 14 games, an impressive tally for a young player. More importantly, Garnacho has begun to have a major impact on the team’s games.
Since November 1, 2023, Garnacho has started 19 consecutive matches. This is a remarkable statistic when before that, this player only started twice in a row.
Garnacho is playing well recently.
For a long time, Garnacho was a super-sub. A player who could make an impact from the bench, but disappoint when he started. That no longer exists.
Specifically, counting the super goal against Everton, 4 of Garnacho’s 6 goals for Man Utd were when this player came on as a substitute. The 4 assists the Argentine midfielder got also came in the same scenario.
Before Garnacho started 19 consecutive games, he had only played 90 minutes twice for Man Utd, against Charlton Athletic and Crystal Palace in the Carabao Cup. Since the Everton match, the Argentine midfielder has played 90 minutes in 8 games.
The above statistics show that Garnacho is gradually gaining more trust from coach Erik ten Hag. Otherwise, this player would soon be withdrawn from the field. In a series of 19 consecutive matches as a starter, the Argentine midfielder was also kept on the field for an hour or more.
Garnacho is even more developed.
Garnacho is talented and young. Everything about this teenager is just potential. If he continues to work hard to improve himself, Garnacho can definitely reach the next level.
After his bicycle kick that tore through Everton’s net, there were comparisons made to Garnacho with Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo, two players who made a huge impact at the Theatre of Dreams at a young age.
At that time, Erik ten Hag refused to put his student on cloud nine. He thought that Rooney and Ronaldo both had their own identities, but as for Garnacho, this player still had a long way to go to develop.
The former Ajax captain also told the Argentine midfielder to show consistency in his performance, something Garnacho failed to do before his goal against Everton.
“To become a player like Rooney or Ronaldo, you have to score 20 or 25 goals in the Premier League every season. It’s not easy to do that. Only those who work hard and overcome all difficulties can reach that milestone. Garnacho still has a lot of work to do, but he clearly has potential,” coach Erik ten Hag shared.
Garnacho can play well on both wings for Man Utd.
Garnacho has only scored 7 goals in all competitions this season. He still has a long way to go if he wants to reach 20 or 25 goals. However, one special thing about Garnacho is that he is becoming a true winger. A player who can score on the left or right flank.
The stats don’t lie. Garnacho scored three goals as a left midfielder and four on the opposite flank. In November 2022, the Argentine expressed his delight at being deployed on the right wing by Erik ten Hag.
“I’ve always liked to play wide on the left, because that’s where a right-footed player can cut inside,” Garnacho told MUTV . “If you want to play on the right with a left-footed player, you have to be good with your weaker foot as well.”
Garnacho revealed that he has been training hard on both feet since he was a child. According to him, this has helped him to become better and better. Against Aston Villa and West Ham, Garnacho scored twice, each goal coming with different feet.
Man Utd’s history has seen many famous wingers, such as Ryan Giggs, David Beckham, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luis Nani… All of them left a strong mark at the “Theatre of Dreams”. Over the past half decade, Man Utd has spent more than a hundred million pounds on Jadon Sancho and Antony in the hope of creating a formidable pair of wings to help the club fly high.
After all, Garnacho is now a “proper winger” for the “Red Devils”, and he joined Man Utd for a fee of just £420,000.
