Paul Scholes, a former midfielder for Manchester United, is of the opinion that Alejandro Garnacho's attitude issues at the beginning of this season could have been caused by the fact that he played alongside Lionel Messi when representing Argentina at the international level.
The young player, who had previously played for Atletico Madrid before moving to United in October 2020, scored his first goal for the club on Thursday evening, and it proved to be the game-winning goal in a 1-0 victory over Real Sociedad in the Europa League. The young player, who is only 18 years old, capitalized on a fantastic ball made by Cristiano Ronaldo and beat Alex Remiro with a finish that was perfectly timed. Even though his goal in the first half was enough to give the Reds their third consecutive win across all competitions, it was not enough for them to claim first place in Group E. They needed to win by a margin of at least two goals to top the group and avoid having to play a play-off round in the Europa League against a club that finished third in the Champions League in February.
Garnacho's performance, just as it was the week before against Sheriff Tiraspol at Old Trafford, was one that was encouraging. This, despite the fact that it was aggravating. After a rough start to the season in which he struggled for consistent opportunities, he has started United's past two matches in the Europa League.
The previous week, the manager Erik ten Hag dropped hints that Garnacho's lack of attention in the early weeks of the season may have been due to attitude problems. Despite the hype that surrounded him, he was not given a single minute of playing time during the pre-season trip that took place in Thailand and Australia. Although he was part of the team for the tour, he did not play.
In addition, after the victory over Sociedad, Bruno Fernandes made a remark that seemed to imply that the young player's attitude problems were the reason he was missed at the beginning of the season.
He did not have the best start during preseason and maybe did not have the attitude that he should have had, but he has changed that now and you can see that with his performances on the pitch, Fernandes told BT Sport: "He did well tonight, but he knows we still expect a lot from him. He did not start the best during preseason and maybe did not have the attitude that he should have had."
The comments made by Fernandes sparked a response from former Manchester United great Scholes, who was serving as a commentator for BT Sport and covering the victory over Sociedad. After being called up to the Argentina national squad, he felt that Garnacho's demeanor may have been influenced by the fact that he was able to rub shoulders with Messi.
According to Scholes, who was speaking to BT Sport, "He stated that was in pre-season, so maybe he was too big for his boots in the summer." "He did go with Argentina and play with Messi, and it's possible that upon his return he said to himself, 'This is me, and I am a member of this team.'"
"He's a young guy, he'll learn, and we'll see the benefits of that," we said.
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Paul scholes