Sunday Mirror (Northern Ireland)
Garnacho can be next Messi
LIONEL WON OLYMPIC GOLD IN 2008... NOW ARGENTINA LEGEND MASCHERANO PLEADS WITH UNITED TO LET ALEJANDRO HAVE HIS SHOT AT GLOBAL GLORY
MANCHESTER UNITED have blocked Alejandro Garnacho’s dream of playing at the Under-20 World Cup.
This is despite a plea from Argentina U20 coach Javier Mascherano for the teenager to be allowed to follow in the footsteps of Lionel Messi.
Garnacho, who is recovering from an ankle injury that has sidelined him for almost two months, was desperate to play in the tournament being hosted in his homeland.
But United boss Erik ten Hag refused to let him go as he did not want to lose the 18-year-old winger for the final four games of the Premier League season and the FA Cup Final at Wembley on June 3.
Garnacho’s disappointment has been eased by a lucrative new five-year contract – sealed after former Liverpool and
West Ham midfielder Mascherano made a final appeal to Ten Hag, citing Messi’s key club versus country row ahead of the 2008
Olympics.
He reminded Ten
Hag that Messi returned to Barcelona with a gold medal – and the motivation to help Pep Guardiola win a La Liga, Champions League and Copa del Rey treble in his first season as the club’s coach. Messi, then aged 21, was initially prevented from joining the Argentine squad going for glory in Beijing after Barca won an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport over a FIFA ruling that made it mandatory for clubs to release all players called up for the Olympics.
German clubs Schalke and Werder Bremen had joined the appeal in a bid to stop Rafinha and Diego from joining up with Brazil.
Guardiola wanted the Argentine forward to spearhead his attack in a Champions League qualifier against Wisla Krakow.
Messi was even included in Barcelona’s squad for a series of pre-season friendlies that saw him score against Hibernian at
Tannadice. Only when Barca then flew on to Florence to face Fiorentina, was Messi finally granted permission to go to Beijing.
Schalke had already allowed Rafinha to travel to China and Werder Bremen followed suit with Diego. Mascherano missed the start of Liverpool’s season after being called up as one of three over-age players.
He told Ten Hag that the experience helped turn Messi into the legend he became. Messi scored his country’s opening goal of the campaign in a 2-1 group victory over Ivory Coast and continued to produce brilliant performances as Australia, Serbia, Holland and Brazil were swept aside before Angel Di Maria’s goal against Nigeria clinched gold in the final. United were under no obligation to release Garnacho, who was left out of the Argentina squad that won the World Cup in Qatar and then missed out on his first senior cap in March after being injured against Southampton.
Ten Hag accepted that playing at the tournament would have helped Garnacho’s development. He was also wary about keeping the player against his will.
But the teenager’s return to fitness will give Ten Hag options after injuries to Rafael Varane, Lisandro Martinez and Scott McTominay.
United still need points to clinch a top-four place and a return to the Champions League.
And with the U20 tournament starting on May 20, it would have meant Garnacho missing games against Wolves, Bournemouth, Chelsea and Fulham. He would also have been unavailable for the FA Cup Final against City if Argentina get to the quarter-finals.