Alejandro Garnacho is basking in his Manchester United breakthrough, after establishing himself as a first team player.
Garnacho’s quality has already been recognised by his country, with Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni calling him up into the squad earlier this year.
While Garnacho did not make an appearance, he got the opportunity to train alongside Lionel Messi and co, and show what he is capable of.
The 18-year-old has since stepped up a level back in Manchester, scoring two winning goals and also providing two assists.
When Argentina named their squad last week, Garnacho could be considered slightly unlucky not to be selected as a wildcard option. Well, hope is not over.
Alejandro Garnacho’s World Cup dreams are not over
Argentina played UAE in a friendly match on Wednesday, winning 5-0, with Lisandro Martinez playing all 90 minutes.
After the game, manager Lionel Scaloni told El Sol he is prepared to still make changes to his 26-man squad before the final deadline, 24 hours before Argentina’s first game next week.
This is because Argentina have four injured players in their squad, who Scaloni does not know if he will be able to count on for the tournament, who all missed the game yesterday.
Scaloni said: “We have days to decide. There are some players who are physically troubled. The truth is that we are not sure that these 26 players are all in the squad, luckily, we have days to decide if we have to make any modifications.”
Of the four injured players, three are attackers. One is Tottenham defender Cristian Romero, the other three are Fiorentina forward Nicolas Gonzalez, Roma’s Paulo Dybala, and Sevilla’s Papu Gomez.
So with three attackers having question marks over them, there is a chance Garnacho could get a call – especially if more than one name has to drop out.
Garnacho would be a wildcard option for the World Cup, and there would be no harm in Scaloni adding him to their squad to gain experience.
World Cup history has shown how fearless players can break out at the tournament, and you would not bet against Garnacho making his mark if he was presented with an opportunity.
If a chance doesn’t arise, then he will have to wait until 2026.