Alejandro Garnacho's uncertain future at Manchester United has put five clubs on red alert ahead of the January transfer window.
Garnacho was dropped from the United squad that defeated Manchester City on Sunday, with boss Ruben Amorim insisting the decision was not due to discipline issues. Up until that point it had been a positive season for Garnacho.
He has scored eight goals and provided four assists in all competitions this season. But while he was a certain starter under Erik ten Hag, that was not the case under the Dutchman's replacement Amorim.
His reduced playing time under the new manager has led to suggestions that the Argentine is on his way to Old Trafford. With United needing to raise money to sign players for Amorim, Garnacho could be at risk of being sold.
According to the Daily Mail, although he was seen as an 'untouchable', some of Europe's top clubs feel he could be available for the right price. The situation has less to do with Amorim and more to do with the market forces putting pressure on United.
The easiest way for them to generate revenue would be to sell homegrown academy graduates. That has made Garnacho, Marcus Rashford and Kobbie Mainoo the most important assets at United.
While there is much speculation about Rashford's future, his lucrative contract makes a deal difficult. However, Garnacho is yet to enter the high earner category and would likely command a much higher fee than Rashford.
United expect such a fee to be around £70 million, although there is no indication the club would be willing to sell him. However, intermediaries would think that the door to a Garnacho deal is ajar.
That has put the likes of Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan on red alert, with Real Madrid and Barcelona also emerging as potential destinations. Amorim has been at pains to maintain that Garnacho's dropping was not due to disciplinary reasons.
“It wasn't a disciplinary issue: next week, next match, new life. They fight for places, but for me the performance in training, the performance in the match, the way you dress, the way you eat, the way you interact with the teammates, the way you encourage your team , important. comrades,” he said.
“Everything is important in our context. At the beginning of changing many things, when people in our club lose their jobs, we have to set the standards very high. For that, they have to fight for the place in the team.”
“Today the team has proven that we can leave everyone out of the selection. You can win if we play together. We have to choose and then we look at how many players we have in our selection, in this position and in the substitutions.”
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