Man United must not break cherished tradition by selling Alejandro Garnacho | OneFootball

Manchester United’s Alejandro Garnacho should not be sold by the club this winter.

The Red Devils are under immense pressure to raise funds to provide players for Ruben Amorim but are also struggling with strict PSR rules and transfer debt.

One negative consequence of modern day finance rules in football is that the selling of academy prospects helps free up large quantities of money such as the sale of Scott McTominay in the summer as it represents pure profit.

This has meant that the likes of Kobbie Mainoo and Alejandro Garnacho are available for the right price.

As a result, there has been serious interest in Garnacho as both SSC Napoli and Chelsea are desperately trying to sign the 20 year old Argentina international.

Nonetheless, Man United should avoid the temptation of cashing in on their young star.

It was just eight months ago that Garnacho was scoring the opening goal in the FA Cup final versus Manchester City and had just come off the back of a highly impressive season at Old Trafford.

Statman Dave has also highlighted that even if this season has not seen the heights of last, his statistics are still impressive for his age.

He posted on X, “there are seven players across Europe’s top five leagues aged 21 or younger who have more G/A this season in all comps than Alejandro Garnacho.”

“Those players have an average market value of £125M.”

In contrast, United are reportedly willing to accept an offer of £60 million for the former Atletico Madrid youngster.

What’s more, Garnacho has played regularly even under Ruben Amorim lately and has scored eight goals and provided five assists in all competitions.

The 20 year old still needs to find his feet and position in Amorim’s system but this is also true for Mainoo and numerous players at the club. Moreover, it is very hard to switch formation mid-season and especially in a squad with such a low amount of confidence like the current side.

Therefore, while the temptation to cash in is understandable, a sale of Garnacho goes against the very ethos of a club who prides itself in giving a youth a chance.

Garnacho is far from the finished article and is often very wasteful in his decision making as a passer or finisher in the final third but he is just 20 years old.

Sir Alex Ferguson has praised the courage of youngsters like Garnacho and Mainoo and claimed, “they are the heart and soul of what Manchester United has been since the days of Sir Matt Busby, who started the whole process of trusting young players playing.”

Fans buzzed with excitement when academy prospect Toby Collyer came off the bench yesterday and made an outstanding goal line clearance.

What would the sale of such a promising youngster say about the club’s most cherished of traditions and indeed, what sort of message would it send the likes of Collyer who are on the cusp of becoming regular squad members?

Featured image Richard Heathcote via Getty Images

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