Alejandro Garnacho Ferreyra born 1 July 2004 is a professional footballer who plays as a winger for Premier League club Manchester United.
Garnacho joined Manchester United's youth system from Atlético Madrid in October 2020. He won the FA Youth Cup and the Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year award in May 2022. The month before, he had made his first-team debut at the age of 17, in a Premier League game against Chelsea.
Garnacho represented Spain at under-18 level, before making his debut for Argentina at under-20 level in 2022. He has been called up to the senior Argentina squad but has yet to make an appearance.
Club career (Manchester United)
Youth career
Born in Madrid, Garnacho joined Atlético Madrid's youth system in 2015 from Getafe. In October 2020, he joined the Manchester United Academy. United paid Atlético a £420,000 fee. He signed his first professional contract with the club in July 2021.
He came under the spotlight for his solo goal in the FA Youth Cup win over Everton, which was nominated for United's Goal of the Month award for February 2022. After being named as an unused substitute for several Premier League matches, Garnacho made his first-team debut for United on 28 April, replacing Anthony Elanga in the 91st minute of a 1–1 draw against Chelsea. Garnacho won the Jimmy Murphy Young Player of the Year award in May. He scored twice in the final of the FA Youth Cup against Nottingham Forest on 11 May, helping United win the competition for the first time since 2011.
2022–23 season
For the start of the 2022–23 Premier League season, he changed his shirt number from 75 to 49.[9] On 4 October 2022, he scored a late winner for Manchester United U21 against Barrow in the 2022–23 EFL Trophy.[10] After brief substitute appearances against Brighton & Hove Albion, Brentford and Real Sociedad, Garnacho made his first senior start for United on 27 October, in a 3–0 win over Sheriff Tiraspol in the UEFA Europa League, whereafter he was praised by manager Erik ten Hag for his improvement over the past few weeks, who stated though previously dissatisfied, he is happy with his improved attitude and resilience. On 3 November, he scored his first senior goal in a Europa League match against Real Sociedad. Garnacho scored his first goal in the Premier League on 13 November, an injury-time winner against Fulham. On 14 January 2023, Garnacho became the youngest player to assist in a Manchester derby in the Premier League at 18 years and 197 days, setting up Marcus Rashford's 82nd minute winner in a 2–1 win against Manchester City. On 12 February 2023, after coming on as a substitute, he scored his team’s second goal in the Premier League match against Leeds United making him the youngest player to score in a Premier League game between Leeds United and Manchester United.
International career
Garnacho is eligible to play for his country of birth, Spain, and Argentina, as his mother is Argentinian.[15] He made three appearances for the Spain under-18 team in 2021.
On 7 March 2022, Garnacho was called up to the Argentina senior team as part of an initial 44-man squad for their two World Cup qualifiers that month.He made it to the final 33-man squad for the fixtures, but did not make an appearance in either game.
Garnacho made his debut for the Argentina under-20 side on 26 March 2022, when he started in a friendly match against the United States. He scored four goals in four appearances for the under-20 team at the 2022 Maurice Revello Tournament.
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