Ruben Amorim wants to sign a striker this summerplaceholder image
Ruben Amorim wants to sign a striker this summer | Manchester United via Getty Images
Man Utd are desperate to get rid of the famous five with news of possible interest in one of them.
Manchester United’s attempts to rebuild from the ground up are being hamstrung by their failure to move players out the door first.
The infamous five players who are reported to have handed in transfer requests are blocking Ruben Amorim’s ability to bring in who he wants but Jadon Sancho looks close to a move to Juventus. Marcus Rashford is also attracting interest with Barcelona the most likely option given Bayern Munich’s continued pursuit of Luis Diaz at Liverpool.
This group of players has been told to report to the Carrington training ground, however, they are training away from the senior squad and have to use the facilities after the first-team has finished. It is a strange situation for a big club to find itself in with so many “problem” players.
Alejandro Garnacho still attracting interest from Chelsea
It is a problem that could be alleviated with TBR reporting that Chelsea could be about to do United a favour. TBR Football chief correspondent Graeme Bailey has said that Chelsea “retain an active interest in (Alejandro) Garnacho and have had recent contact with his people.”
United are said to want £40m for Garnacho, which is less than the fee Arsenal look set to pay for Noni Madueke. Chelsea have already strengthened the wide areas of their squad, however, after their Club World Cup success, they know that a big squad will be needed to compete on all fronts next season.
Unlike Rashford, Antony and Sancho, Garnacho did feature regularly for Amorim, however, he isn’t the first senior Old Trafford figure to highlight that an attitude change is needed in the young winger. The current Red Devils’ boss has obviously had enough with Garnacho already having been warned by both Bruno Fernandes and Erik ten Hag.
Why Garnacho isn’t getting any more chances at United
Even as a teenager, Garnacho’s attitude and professionalism was being questioned with Fernandes revealing in 2022 that his standard’s in pre-season training had not been what was expected after scoring a winning goal in the Europa League via The Athletic: “He was good but he knows that we expect a lot from him. Obviously, he’s still really young, he’s doing really well.
“At the beginning of the season, he was not at his best. In the tour, he didn’t have the best attitude that he should’ve had. That’s why he didn’t get his chances until now. He’s getting his chances because he’s training better, he’s having a different attitude and he’s deserving his chances.”
An 18-year old shouldn’t have to be told to work harder with Ten Hag also noting an improved attitude that makes the current situation even less surprising: “We are of course disappointed we didn’t succeed by scoring with a two-goal difference but we win, a clean sheet, positive we have extra options in the frontline with Garnacho, he’s developing very well,” he added.
“I hope he can keep that attitude like now, when he is reliable, you see he is a threat, he can create, he can give final passes and he can score goals, so it’s a good process.”
Contributing when he wants to or when he can be bothered to isn’t good enough for United, if Garnacho doesn’t want to be at the club, he can go somewhere else, but as he has already been told, if his attitude doesn’t improve, the same story will only repeat itself further down the line. Maybe one day he will realise the opportunity he has had and regret his behaviour.
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