Manchester United boss Erik ten Hag has opened up on his decision to bench Alejandro Garnacho for today’s Premier League clash with Fulham. The 18-year-old sparkled after coming on in his side’s 4-2 win over Aston Villa on Thursday. However, Anthony Elanga starts ahead of him for this afternoon’s showdown in west London.
Manchester United have gone strong as they look to beat Fulham today in their final game before the World Cup in Qatar commences.
David De Gea is back in goal, with the Spain international overlooked for Martin Dubravka for his side’s victory over Villa on Thursday.
Tyrell Malacia comes in for Diogo Dalot at right-back, with Victor Lindelof, Lisandro Martinez and Luke Shaw also selected.
In midfield, United have gone with a trident of Casemiro, Christian Eriksen and Bruno Fernandes.
And, up top, Elanga starts alongside Marcus Rashford and Marcus Rashford.
Garnacho, meanwhile, has been named on the bench with the likes of Dubravka, Nathan Bishop, Harry Maguire, Fred, Donny van de Beek, Scott McTominay and Zidane Iqbal.
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In a separate interview before the game, Ten Hag revealed how he was helping Garnacho to fulfil his potential behind the scenes.
“First of all, there’s a moment when you bring through players, they must follow the process in training,” he said.
“You work all day with them and then in matches, you evaluate it and you think about potentially what he has.
“You know, when you bring him into games, he has to be ready and you know when you bring him in that his potential will accelerate.
“That is what we are seeing right now [with Garnacho]. From the start of the season, he has made a lot of progress.
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“When we have brought him in, he has done very well and, of course, there’s a lot that we have to work on.”
Meanwhile, talkSPORT pundit Tony Cascarino has hailed Garnacho and the way he applies himself out on the pitch – insisting he’s got what it takes to be a regular in the team.
“Garnacho is ready to challenge anyone in that forward line,” he said.
“He’s so tenacious, he’s scaring the life out of full-backs, he wants to go past people.
“He does a thing very few wingers can do brilliantly, and that’s running across the line of a defender and trying to get behind them, and then the defender just gets scared.
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“All he wants to do is get to a position where he’s either going to set someone up or try to score himself – which he eventually did.
“He’s dangerous and he’s making a good case for himself to be playing in the Man United team now.”
And he added: “If you look at Jadon Sancho and where he is and how he’s played, I’ve seen more from Garnacho this season in 45 minutes than I have from Sancho since he’s joined United.
“Sancho was brought to the club to get to bylines, get to dangerous areas of the pitch and make defenders uncomfortable, get goals and assists, and he’s not done that.
“Garnacho has got hunger and desire, he looks like an angry kid at times, he wants to be really direct – and that sits really well for what United need right now.
“He’s got the lot.”
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