Amorim turned Garnacho from a Man Utd untouchable into a pariah and Mainoo is next
A little over three months after Ruben Amorim told Alejandro Garnacho to find a new club in front of his teammates, the 21-year-old is on his way to Chelsea for £40m. Any chance you’ve backed the wrong horse, lads?
It’s a transfer which we’re now in danger of seeing as a Manchester United win but should unquestionably be viewed as a huge missed opportunity for the Red Devils and yet another significant blot on the copybook of their under pressure manager. Just imagine how this move would have been viewed when Amorim first arrived in November.
Negotiations with Chelsea have been fruitful for United. They quoted £50m for their academy graduate, Chelsea came in at £25m, and BlueCo have ended up paying a £40m fixed fee, with the deal also including a 10 per cent sell-on clause which could prove very worthwhile for United should Chelsea continue to treat the transfer market like a car boot sale.
Quite staggeringly, as well as the sale marking the largest for a United academy graduate, it’s also the fourth largest in United’s history after Cristiano Ronaldo, Romelu Lukaku and Angel Di Maria. It still feels significantly lower than his value.
Chelsea will require no marked improvement – or any at all – on what Garnacho achieved last season, with ten goals and ten assists in all competitions, to make a profit on him next summer should the Stamford Bridge saloon doors continue to swing unencumbered. Anthony Elanga got 18 goal contributions before Newcastle bought him for £52m. Chelsea sold Noni Madueke to Arsenal for £48m after just 15.
And that’s what Garnacho produced under a manager who never fancied him. His 58 appearances for United were a product of long-term absences for Mason Mount, Joshua Zirkzee and Amad Diallo, while Marcus Rashford and Antony leaving on loan in January left Amorim very little option but to play Garnacho. He found a way in the Europa League final though.
That was the final straw for Garnacho, who called out their “sh*t season” after playing just 19 minutes of the defeat to Tottenham having started every knockout game to help United get there. He then ensured bridges were burned entirely by wearing Rashford’s Aston Villa shirt over the summer and insisting he would rather not play football this season at all than work under Amorim again.
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It’s easy to suggest United are better off without his petulance, and many fans over the summer will no doubt have seen their manager’s call to rid the club of a ‘bad apple’ as a good one. But we wonder if, amid the backdrop of a new nadir for Amorim in the form of defeat to League Two Grimsby Town to prompt calls for his sacking, whether United fans able to pause and reflect on their manager’s awful reign at Old Trafford are now thinking about the damage he’s done to their football club.
United named Garnacho as one of three ‘untouchable’ players shortly before he arrived, one of the great hopes of the future along with Rasmus Hojlund, who’s now also on his way out of the club, and Kobbie Mainoo, who wants out, with any hope that he won’t leave resting on the Amorim sack preceding the next transfer window. Would Marcus Rashford currently be playing for Barcelona had any other manager replace Erik ten Hag? Doubt it.
Were Manchester United considered better off with the quality we had seen from Garnacho, Hojlund and Mainoo when Amorim first arrived, along with their high ceilings for improvement, or now with Matheus Cunha, Bryan Mbeumo and Benjamin Sesko? It’s at best a toss up and it’s certainly not the £100m+ upgrade the net spend will suggest it is when all is said and done.
Garnacho’s departure will be tinged with sadness and regret for many, given his goal in the FA Cup final win over Manchester City in 2024, his masterful overhead kick at Goodison Park and plenty of other off-your-seat moments besides in what was an all-too brief time at Old Trafford for a player tipped for the very top almost from the very first time he stepped onto the pitch.
And while his infantile actions may also leave some with a sense of relief at him now being Chelsea’s problem, there’s at least as good a chance he will fly as flop at Stamford Bridge, which will leave Manchester United fans wondering whether they backed the right horse in Amorim, who looks set to be taken out back anyway, after he’s turned Garnacho and his fellow Red Devil untouchables into pariahs in the space of eight months.
