Alejandro Garnacho stormed down the tunnel after being substituted before half time against Ipswich last night. The Argentine international was sacrificed for Noussair Mazraoui on the 45th minute, as Ruben Amorim wanted to bring on a defensive option after Patrick Dorgu’s red card.
United fans will know that this is not the first time one of their attacking stars has stormed down the tunnel in a strop before the full time whistle.
Cristiano Ronaldo infamously left Old Trafford early after Erik Ten Hag refused to bring him on against Tottenham two seasons ago. Ruben Amorim is now facing his own ‘Erik ten hag-Cristiano Ronaldo’ moment with his 20-year-old star. Can he take a leaf out of the former United managers book when dealing with Garnacho?
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Ronaldo only appeared four more times for United after his touchline tantrum. The all time great had a fractious relationship from the off with Ten Hag, but it was the game against Spurs where things first boiled over publicly.
The Dutchman sanctioned Ronaldo by dropping him for the next United game away at Chelsea. Amorim, who has previously left players including Garnacho out of his squad due to discipline issues, could employ a similar tactic to his predecessor.
"Was cold and wet maybe," Amorim said when asked about Garnacho’s actions. "The thinking was that we played more in 5-3-1. I know that’s a risk because we take the only player now that has one against one and pace.”
“What I am saying is I am going to talk with Garnacho about that. I will talk about that if you want in the next press conference."
Ten Hag seemingly ruled the United dressing room with an iron fist. Dropping Ronaldo after his incident was the first instances of him stamping down his authority on his squad.
Even though Ronaldo did play for Ten Hag again, and even captained the side in his last appearance for the club in a 3-1 loss at Villa Park, the relationship between the two had broken down after the Tottenham game.
Garnacho was dropped against Manchester City along with Marcus Rashford in December and was linked with a move to Chelsea last monht, although his desire was to remain at Old Trafford.
It would not be a surprise if Amorim was to leave Garnacho out of his starting line up for Sunday's FA Cup tie against Fulham, or potentially even the squad entirely.
