As Alejandro Garnacho opened up on his recent fitness issues, the Manchester United supporters could have been forgiven for suffering a nasty case of deja vu.
This is a fanbase traumatised by an unprecedented injury crisis.
While those seemingly never-ending injury issues offered Erik ten Hag a useful excuse to explain why his Manchester United team underperformed so dramatically throughout 2023/24, they also raised serious concerns over how the Red Devils dealt with such problems.
With a host of star players ruled out each and every week, it could not have been pure bad luck. This was not merely a cruel coincidence.
And the comments Alejandro Garnacho made when pulling out of the Argentina squad this week may have confirmed the worst fears held by supporters concerned that Man United were actually exacerbating those injury issues rather than easing them.
Argentina boss reacts as Manchester United’s Alejandro Garnacho picks up injury
Garnacho had been been playing through the pain for Manchester United, suffering with a knee problem in each of the last two outings against FC Porto and Aston Villa.
So why he played the full 90 minutes at Villa Park – after replacing a fully fit Marcus Rashford at half-time in Portugal – is anyone’s guess.
The Spain-born 20-year-old will, at least, have a fortnight to work on his knee as club football is placed on pause. Garnacho will not feature during Argentina’s World Cup qualifiers against Venezuela and Bolivia, having pulled out of the Albiceleste squad.
And the absence of Garnacho – the Man United academy graduate produced a maiden Argentina assist in September – is another unwelcome blow for a manager already without Paolo Dybala, Nicolas Gonzalez and potentially Alexis Mac Allister too.
Emi Martinez and Cristian Romero are suspended.
“This is a very difficult date [to play games],” Lionel Scaloni sighs during his pre-match press conference. “There are many unforeseen events.”
Such as, for instance, the concerns brought about via Hurricane Milton.
Scaloni is delighted to have added Leicester City’s Brighton loanee Facundo Buonanotte to his squad to replace Garnacho, with complications over cross-Atlantic travel restricting the Argentina boss largely to homegrown talent.
“We managed to get [Leicester City’s Facundo] Buonanotte in quickly due to Garnacho’s injury. He arrived with us yesterday. That was practically a success,” a relieved Scaloni adds.
“Bringing players from Europe is difficult now. It’s almost impossible to be able to bring them in and for them to be able to play.”
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Erik ten Hag hails Garnacho despite Man United issues
Garnacho was part of the Argentina squad which claimed the Copa America over the summer. He now has seven appearances for the national team.
And, with Roma star Dybala and Juventus winger Gonzalez unavailable, the former Atletico Madrid starlet will be disappointed to have been denied the chance to stake his claim for a starting berth in the absence of his fellow forwards.
Garnacho has not scored since his brace against Barnsley in the Carabao Cup.
Erikt en Hag was still full of praise for Man United’s number 17 after Saturday’s hard-fought Villa Park stalemate, however.
“We created some chances, also not so many chances. We hit the crossbar [via Bruno Fernandes’ free-kick] and also Marcus Rashford had chances. But the two teams were really balanced,” Ten Hag told BBC Sport.
“We create loads of chances in our seven [Premier League] games but we have to step up. We have to take into consideration [Rasmus] Hojlund is returning, he’s still coming up to full fitness. But others are stepping up.
“I was impressed from Rashford, also Alejandro Garnacho is so good, and Antony at the end.”
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