A year ago, Alejandro Garnacho was not a regular starter. He was hardly starting at all, in fact. When he appeared in the Carabao Cup fourth-round tie against Newcastle United on November 1, 2023 it was only his fourth start of the season.
But his fifth came the following weekend, away at Fulham . Then his sixth was a few days after that, away at Copenhagen. His seventh followed immediately, against Luton Town at Old Trafford.
Then his eighth at Goodison Park, along with a rather memorable goal. Then the ninth. The 10th.
GO DEEPER Alan Shearer on the biomechanical beauty of the overhead kick And so on, all the way to the FA Cup final at Wembley against Manchester City , where he opened the scoring on a day that will go down in United’s history for all the right reasons . That match was his 38th consecutive start, the longest streak of starts by any United player last season. By comparison, Bruno Fernandes managed 31 in a row.
The United captain was one of just two outfielders who clocked up more than Garnacho’s 3,560 minutes in all competitions. Advertisement It was a lot of football for a developing player. It also meant a sharp shift in expectations — from impact substitute to regular starter.
All of which is worth remembering when Garnacho occasionally exasperates in the way that young, raw 20-year-olds do. Against Chelsea last Sunday, Garnacho fashioned and squandered United’s best chance in open play, intelligently holding his run just after the hour mark and cre.