From Hidden Gem to Rising Star: The Rise of Garnacho at Manchester United

Garnacho is on Real Madrid’s radar today (REUTERS/Molly Darlington)

Cristiano Ronaldo is the rising figure of Manchester United and one of the greatest promises of the Argentine national team, where Lionel Scaloni thinks of him as a possible place for the Copa América in the United States and almost a permanent one – if the imponderables of football do not operate – thinking about the 2026 World Cup. “He’s like a young Cristiano Ronaldo,” English soccer legend Paul Scholes praised him. But, until 2020, it was a hidden gem. It was then that the Red Devils decided to pay 420,000 euros for his signing to Atlético de Madrid, the club where he was in training.

The takeoff came at Old Trafford, just as the scouts had planned, as detailed by Nick Cox, leader of the scouting department, in dialogue with the club’s official media. “We were looking for a player who could occupy the width of the field, who was 16 years old, with certain qualities and a certain temperament. Our recruiting teams selected all players of that age and that position, and Alejandro was at the top of the list,” he narrated the beginning of the procedure.

It was Gerardo Guzmán, the talent detector in Spain, who wrote down his name. Then, Steve Brown and Dave Harrison were in charge of comparing pros and cons with the other selected ones to reach the conclusion that the Bug was the one. “They introduced it to me and the coaches with video footage. We felt that the scouts had done a very good investigation, so I accepted Alejandro as the appropriate player to follow.”

The next step represented the seduction operation. “My job was to present Alejandro, his agent and his family with this wonderful opportunity. We saw very quickly that we had a determined, resilient, focused and on-track young man; and all those things are necessary if you want to become a Manchester United player,” stressed Cox, who is in love with the forward’s projection.

With the Argentine team, with which he is participating in the tour of the United States (REUTERS/Agustin Marcarian)

“He has a real flamboyance on the field, which perhaps isn’t visible off it, where he is a very focused and down-to-earth guy. For our youth players, seeing a boy like Garnacho scoring a goal like the one he scored against Everton only serves as inspiration,” he concluded.

Son of a Spaniard (Álex) and an Argentine (Patricia Ferreyra Fernández), he already had presences with the Iberian Under 18 team before the AFA scouting department pointed him out as a value to take into account and that Lionel Scaloni will summon him directly to the Major team in 2022 to see his behavior and talent from up close, to feel the atmosphere and even have his portrait photographed next to Lionel Messi, an unavoidable magnet as an element of seduction. “Dreams really do come true,” he wrote then, almost as a symbol of his choice. Another procedure from a successful talent detection team, like United’s.

Today, the evidence. He has 12 goals and 9 assists in 75 games, has already won a title (a League Cup) and threatens to become one of the next great figures in world football, at just 19 years old.

2024-03-25 00:31:56
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