Manchester United winger Alejandro Garnacho has agreed to pay for a team dinner as punishment for disappearing down the tunnel and not reappearing for the second half after being substituted against Ipswich Town.
The Argentina international was taken off late in the first half of Wednesday’s 3-2 win at Old Trafford after United had been reduced to 10 men following Patrick Dorgu’s red card for a reckless change on Omari Hutchinson.
Ruben Amorim revealed that Garnacho had come to see him in his office on Thursday to discuss the matter and explained that he had headed straight for the tunnel in order to change out of his kit, which was soaking wet.
Yet the United head coach was dismayed that Garnacho did not come back out to watch the second half with the rest of the substitutes and has reminded the 20-year-old about the importance of “perception” and how that will have looked to the outside world.
Garnacho has not been formally disciplined but he will pay for a team dinner by way of apology as an informal punishment.
“He came to me,” Amorim said ahead of Sunday’s FA Cup fifth round tie against Fulham at Old Trafford. “It was funny because the next day he came to my office. I did some investigations. He went to the dressing room to change his clothes because he was wet and he watched the game not on the bench but in a different [place] and at the end of the game he was there and went home.
“So there is not an issue there. But I told him that, at Manchester United, everything is important and perception in a big club is really important. So he is going to pay a dinner to all the team and that’s it.”
Amorim said he could understand Garnacho’s frustration at being substituted but said he had to learn to deal with such situations and how they could be perceived.
“I think he understands,” added the United head coach, who said Garnacho would face a fitness test against Fulham after suffering a knock in the Fulham game. “But, like I said, [the players] read everything, all the small things. I know the players quite well, I played for quite a while. I understand they are frustrated.
“He was subbed, he was playing well and has to go off in that moment of the game. It’s hard to deal with everything, but they have to deal with everything. I just try to help them be better footballers.”
Joshua Zirkzee headed straight down the tunnel in tears after being taken off in the first half of the 2-0 defeat by Newcastle in December when the Netherlands striker’s substitution was cheered by United fans.
Amorim said the context in that case was different but stressed the importance of his players understanding their actions have consequences.
“He’s [Garnacho] a young kid that will learn,” Amorim said. “The important thing was the next morning he was speaking with me. We need to see that small things like walking out on to the pitch – because Zirkzee did the same thing and the context was different – but it was the same thing.
“We have to understand the situation, the context, the age of the players, of course they have to be better. They have to understand the perception here is really important. But you can deal with that the next day and move on, so let’s just move on.”
Amorim has endured an uneasy relationship with Garnacho since becoming United manager and dropped the player for the Manchester derby in December in the wake of an apparent show of dissent during a Europa League tie against Viktoria Plzen days earlier.
Garnacho reportedly appeared to turn his back on Amorim and walk away while the Portuguese was trying to give him instructions before bringing him on.
The Argentine posted a picture on his Instagram on Wednesday night of him holding his nose, head bowed and walking off. Chelsea and Napoli both made bids for Garnacho last month with United open to offers for all their squad, given their financial predicament and need to raise funds to reinvest.
Erik ten Hag, whom Amorim succeeded as United manager, said in an interview this week that modern players could not cope with criticism and that previous generations had a “tougher skin”.
Amorim himself said last week that his players take criticism “so personally” but the Portuguese said the advent of social media had presented fresh challenges.
“It is completely different for the players nowadays,” he said. “Before it was just two newspapers and nothing more. With social media now it is completely different. They are so focused on social media you cannot go to it without seeing news or a photo or, if you read something bad, you focus on that.
“There can be 100 good things and one bad thing and they focus on that bad thing. So it’s really hard for them. You can call it soft but they have that access to criticism and what people think. That is really hard to deal with. They need help to deal with that. So it is modern football and they have to be prepared for that.”
With Garnacho uncertain to face Fulham and Dorgu suspended, Amorim has more selection headaches, with Mason Mount, Luke Shaw, Kobbie Mainoo, Amad Diallo, Lisandro Martínez, Jonny Evans, Toby Collyer, Altay Bayindir and Tom Heaton all sidelined.
Amorim dismisses Keane’s ‘imposters’ criticism
Amorim has said he disagrees with Roy Keane’s criticism this week of United captain Bruno Fernandes, whom the Irishman claimed was “not a fighter” and that talent alone “was not enough”. Keane also branded the United squad “f------ imposters”.
Fernandes has been United’s best signing since Sir Alex Ferguson retired and set up all three goals in United’s victory over Ipswich.
“I heard about that, I have a different opinion,” Amorim said of Keane’s criticism. “Bruno is really important for us in the club, especially for me.
“He’s playing well in a difficult context, he always wants the responsibility. I know sometimes he does things as a captain with his arms and criticising the team-mates.
“Most of all, it’s a lot of frustration for this year, the last year and the others. He wants to win and sometimes it’s really hard to deal with that frustration.
“Roy Keane has big standards from him in his time. It is normal to have an opinion. I have an opposite opinion. I think my opinion is more important than Roy Keane’s because I am the coach and I think he [Fernandes] is doing things quite well.”
