Sir Alex Ferguson was of a betting persuasion long before Cristiano Ronaldo came to England’s shores and Ronaldo embraced the culture with his own wagers.
Ferguson and a 19-year-old Ronaldo had a bet on him to score 10 goals in 2004-05 – his second season. Ronaldo came one short on nine, with his spot kick in the FA Cup final shootout rightly discounted.
After a progressive 12 goals in 2005-06, the stakes were raised with a £400 wager for Ronaldo to hit the 15-goal mark in 2006-07. Ronaldo hit that mark with a penalty at Tottenham in February 2007.
He ended that campaign on 23 goals and if Ferguson was brave enough to continue gambling he would have had to downsize from his Wilmslow abode. Ronaldo’s apex at United came in 2007-08 with a staggering 42 goals.
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Alejandro Garnacho, like Ronaldo, is a Latino winger, teenage debutant and FA Cup final goalscorer. The FA Cup and the League Cup were also the first domestic trophies Ronaldo got his hands on.
Garnacho, not 21 until next year, is more important to United than Ronaldo was at the same age. The most matches a teenage Ronaldo started in succession for United was eight and the eighth was on his 20th birthday. For Garnacho, it was 38.
It made his substitute status in the first weeks of the season mystifying. Garnacho has now started half of United’s 12 games but completed 90 minutes in their past four Premier League games.
He is also their highest scorer with five goals. That is half the tally he managed last season. Garnacho literally went one better than Ronaldo did in his 20th year by getting a perfect 10 with that tap-in to start the ball rolling for United’s joyous FA Cup triumph against Manchester City.
At the weekend, Garnacho was United’s consistent goal threat. United have had 112 attempts at goal in the league this term and Garnacho has been responsible for 22 of them.
He was accommodated on the left wing against Brentford with Marcus Rashford shifted to the right. Rashford has been more engaged this season and at the centre of United’s creativity. His pinpoint cross for Garnacho’s volley was a reminder that playing a right-footed winger on the right flank is not an outdated strategy.
Long-term, that arrangement has some way to go. Rashford is better on the left and Garnacho has form on the right, so another switch-up could come sooner rather than later. Especially with Erik ten Hag’s capricious selections. Rashford was almost single-handedly responsible for United’s 2-0 lead in Porto three weeks ago yet he was inexplicably hooked at half-time.
“He was your best player,” a journalist opined to Ten Hag. “Garnacho was my best player on Sunday by far and also in many other games,” Ten Hag replied.
“I think in the season as I assess it so far, he is bringing us so far the offensive threat by creating chances, assists, also scoring. Garnacho, we also had to play him as well and we have two very good players over that side.”
Rashford turns 27 next week. That is not young enough for a reinvention as a right-sided specialist but it is not what he would have had intended.
Garnacho was United’s most incessant attacker as they sought an equaliser in Portugal. Three days later, Garnacho and Rashford were the wingers in a forgettable goalless draw and a situation that could have blown up blew over.
Ten Hag privately acknowledged he overplayed Garnacho last season, enforced by the dire form of the other wingers. He did not once regret substituting him for Antony on 66 minutes in the FA Cup semi-final with United 3-0 up against Coventry. At full-time, it was 3-3.
Antony ended that day goading Championship players after a penalty shootout win, anathema to those United supporters who could not get out of Wembley quickly enough. Antony did not get a kick again on Sunday.
He has been unused in eight of United’s 12 fixtures and played less than 30 minutes in the league. Those privileges he once enjoyed under Ten Hag are long gone.
Garnacho is Ten Hag’s main man in attack. He crossed the white line for the first team as a 17-year-old under Ralf Rangnick but Ten Hag is the coach who has hot-housed Garnacho into a top-tier winger with international pedigree.
Ten Hag was almost nonplussed at the suggestion Garnacho could or should break well into double figures this season. “He has to if he wants to be a better player,” Ten Hag said.
“I know what he is capable of, that is why I play him so often. He is a threat and has scoring abilities but also a threat in one-v-ones, making key actions and giving assists to the team. “The end product is definitely what we need and missed in the first games of the season.”
Garnacho getting more than 10 goals seems a safe bet.
