Manchester United face a strenuous battle in repelling the interest of European giants Real Madrid, who have taken a liking to one of the club’s most promising young starlets.
What’s the word?
After a sensational and swift breakthrough into the first-team, 18-year-old Argentinian winger Alejandro Garnacho is on the radar of Real Madrid president Florentino Perez, with Spanish outlet Relevo reporting that they will possibly look to swoop for the player in the near future.
The LaLiga giants are known for targeting scores of the globe’s most promising young talents, adding them into the rich pool at the Santiago Bernabeu and providing a foundation for success for years to come.
With Garnacho currently the topic of contractual conversation at the club, with Red Devils boss Erik ten Hag set to offer the ace ‘ten times’ the amount he currently earns, it is clear that the importance of warding off suitors and tying him down to Old Trafford is paramount.
Avoid Pogba repeat
Transfermarkt states that the £4.3m-rated Garnacho is set to conclude his current United deal next summer, and the hierarchy will be desperate to indeed put pen to paper over a new long-term deal.
With past mistakes likely to be at the forefront of discussion on the matter, swift action is necessary.
One salient case is the departure of Paul Pogba, who left the club on a free transfer in 2012, when the French midfielder was just 19 years old, joining Serie A juggernauts Juventus.
The rest, as they say, is history; United re-signed Pogba from the Old Lady for a then-world-record fee of £89m in 2016, in a deal which pointed many a finger at the lack of direction from the club that allowed them to part with a player on a free deal only to lure them back for such a lucrative sum.
Garnacho, who has been described as having “huge potential”, is a prodigious talent that United simply cannot afford to let slip through their fingers, having signed him from Atletico Madrid’s academy in 2020, when he was just 16 years old.
Having netted two goals and two assists in just his first ten professional appearances for the Manchester giants, Garnacho has already provided a new dimension to the attack that could lay every bit as integral a role as the most established figures at the outfit.
The club must heed the former misfortunes, and cement the future of an 18-year-old who possesses all of the skill, pace and physical attributes to flourish for the club, playing a starring role as Man United look to creep closer and closer to the front of the Premier League pack and seeing his market value rise concurrently.