Manchester United have a very special young player coming through the ranks who has had the opportunity to learn from football’s greats.
Not many footballers have been privileged to play alongside Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
Alejandro Garnacho is one who has had the pleasure, lining up alongside both superstars while still a teenager.
Garnacho scored his first goal for Manchester United from a Ronaldo assist, before the Portuguese ace left the club in late 2022.
Meanwhile after training alongside Messi the same year for Argentina, Garnacho got the chance to play alongside him for his country after being called up to make his international debut in 2023.
Garnacho’s idol was Cristiano Ronaldo
Alejandro Garnacho was born in Madrid in Spain, to Argentine parents. After representing Spain at youth level, he was quick to switch allegiance to Argentina when called into their national team squad.
He has embraced everything about Argentina, including Lionel Messi, who he regards highly – but he won’t ditch his high admiration for Cristiano Ronaldo, despite the long rivalry between the two.
That’s how it should be too. Ronaldo was good to Garnacho, even presenting him with a matchball after he hit a hat-trick in the Premier League against Norwich, with the teenager on the bench.
Garnacho has occasionally replicated Ronaldo’s famous celebrations too, from the youth team to the first team. And one former player believes he should stop.
Angel di Maria praises Garnacho and offers advice
Former Manchester United winger Angel di Maria has played alongside Garnacho for Argentina, and he is a big fan of his.
But Di Maria, a former teammate of Cristiano Ronaldo at Real Madrid, believes the Manchester United youngster should stop mimicking his celebration.
Di Maria is quoted by Argentine newspaper Ole: “The only thing I wouldn’t do is celebrate Cristiano. I would score the goal and I would do like Messi does. I’ll stick with that.”
He was very complimentary about the Manchester United whizkid, commenting: “He is a very fast player, he has incredible ability. He is going to gain it with experience and coming to the National Team, it is a place where you learn a lot and continue to improve. It helped me a lot to grow technically in every way, it is spectacular.
“I think he will grow with experience as well. When I was young I wanted to make the play 30 times in the game. Over the years you realize that if you do it 10, but you do it better, it’s worth it.”
“He has a lot of future, a very big future. It depends on him, on his head, to be able to handle it. I don’t have much to say, there’s a reason he’s playing for Manchester United.”
Di Maria’s kind words will be appreciated by Garnacho, but it probably won’t stop him celebrating like Cristiano Ronaldo any time soon.
However, when Garnacho does score his first goal for Argentina, perhaps Di Maria has a point, that may not be the best time to perform a ‘Siuu’ celebration. Best save those for Manchester United.