Erik ten Hag, the manager of Manchester United, has explained that young forward Alejandro Garnacho has the skill to handle the ball in confined spaces.
He explained that the Argentina U20 star can “take on players” in a one-on-one situation and run behind defenders while dribbling quickly.
The Dutchman made this statement while defending his decision to start the 18-year-old instead of Anthony Elanga in Manchester United’s attack against Sheriff Tiraspol in the Europa League.
Elanga sat on the bench for the entire duration of the game despite a lively showing when he came off the bench against Chelsea at the weekend.
He told reporters, “I was really pleased with the performance of Elanga against Chelsea, so it was also a difficult decision whether I play Elanga or Garnacho[against Sheriff]
“It was really close [between them] but finally I decided because in tight areas Garnacho has really good capabilities to find solutions to take players on with his tempo dribbles, so I like that.”
Goals from Diogo Dalot, Marcus Rashford and Cristiano Ronaldo sealed a 3-0 victory for Manchester United over Sheriff Tiraspol in the Europa League on Thursday night.