The mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, has some high praise for one Manchester United star.
Despite being an Evertonian, the mayor of Manchester is set to be heavily involved with Manchester United in the coming months.
Burnham is on a task force with Sir Jim Ratcliffe, Gary Neville and so many more who will ultimately oversee the transformation of part of Manchester – which includes potentially a new stadium or a redevelopment of Old Trafford.
Burnham spoke about this and had high praise for one current Manchester United first-team squad member on a recent podcast.
Andy Burnham on Alejandro Garnacho
Speaking a little after the Everton game on Talk of the Devils, Burnham, a Toffees supporter, initially spoke about Alejandro Garnacho – who has tortured Everton this season.
He scored that miraculous overhead kick at Goodison and won two penalties in a Man of the Match performance in the most recent fixture at Old Trafford. This led to host Andy Mitten saying to him: “You must be sick at the sight of Alejandro Garnacho surely?”
Burnham responded: “I know. God. I won’t go into the whole reaction of his foul, but I remember his goal at Goodison which is one of the best goals I’ve ever seen in front of the Gwlady’s Street. Wow. That lad has got all the talent in the world, hasn’t he? It’s slowly coming through, isn’t it.”
But whilst the hosts were interested in his views of what’s happening on the pitch, the real reason for Burnham coming on was to give updates about what’s occurring off. He gave the latest on the potential new stadium, which also included a note-worthy time frame.
Andy Burnham on stadium timeframe update
The task force appears to be very exciting for Manchester United. It involves a group of very powerful, influential members of Manchester who will look to synergise the United rebuild with the growth of the city.
Their first point of call? The stadium. It’s still under consideration as to whether it’ll be a complete rebuild or a redevelopment. However, Ratcliffe is leaning towards a completely new ground. The outcome of this will be revealed in due time, as Burnham suggests:
“Andy, you’ve talked about this task force being in the early stages, when can we start to see this task force bearing fruit? Is it months? Is it years?” Carl Anka asks.
Burnham replies: “It’s certainly not years Carl. Because I think everyone sees there’s a need to move quickly and not let this drag on. I think that’s also how the club want to proceed.
“To be honest with you, there’s been a huge amount of work done already. There’s been a lot of thinking that’s gone on. I think the Trafford Council have anticipated this discussion over the years and so they are ready to help.
“So, I think, as far as I understand, the club still have to confirm, as far as a headline decision on either to rebuild or refurbish, that comes later on this year.
“That’s the main thing to focus on a the moment and to support the club with this year, and it’s a massive decision isn’t it in terms of the future of Manchester United.”
Things seem to be moving nicely. It’ll be interesting to see what happens in the coming months.