Manchester United’s pre-season preparations are about to gear up but some players still have international football on their minds right now.
Erik ten Hag will be hoping to lead a strong pre-season as Manchester United look for serious improvement after a disappointing season.
United’s first pre-season fixture against Rosenborg is less than two weeks away and preparations will really start to ramp up soon enough.
Some players are still in international action though and still have hopes of glory.
Kobbie Mainoo and Luke Shaw are – just about – still in Euro 2024 with England whilst Diogo Dalot and Bruno Fernandes are into the quarter-finals with Portugal.
Over in South America, Lisandro Martinez and Alejandro Garnacho have a real chance to bring more glory to Argentina.
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Walter Samuel on Manchester United’s Alejandro Garnacho
Lionel Messi and co won the World Cup in 2022, just 18 months after winning Copa America.
Now gunning for another trophy, Argentina have made a strong start to this summer’s Copa America tournament.
Argentina have started with three wins from three, beating Canada, Chile and Peru in a comfortable group stage campaign.
Argentina haven’t even conceded a goal in those three games, so their start to the competition has been hugely impressive.
Sunday’s win over Peru saw Argentina ring the changes having already secured their route to the knockout stages.
That handed United talent Alejandro Garnacho with a chance to shine, starting down the left flank in Argentina’s attack.
Garnacho couldn’t get himself on the scoresheet but assistant boss Walter Samuel appears to have been left impressed.
Samuel told TyC Sports that Garnacho and Valentin Carboni are players to really excite Argentina fans for years to come.
Samuel felt that Garnacho ‘played a good match’ against Peru and is ‘very happy’ with what he showed.
“It’s important that he was able to play from the start. Valentín Carboni also had to come on later… They are young players who inspire a lot of excitement for us. We hope they can be in the national team for many years. He played a good match and we are very happy,” said Samuel.
Garnacho can become a star for club and country
Garnacho has enjoyed a superb year of development.
The 20-year-old racked up 30 Premier League starts last season, bagging seven goals and four assists in the process.
Garnacho has quickly gone from exciting prospect to first-team regular at Old Trafford and the sky appears to be the limit for him in a United shirt.
Despite being born in Spain – and representing them at Under-18 level – Garnacho chose to play for Argentina.
Now featuring in the senior team, Garnacho is showing promise for Argentina without landing a huge role just yet.
The Lionel Messi and Angel Di Maria era is set to come to an end in the coming years and Garnacho should be part of Argentina’s attack for a long, long time yet.
This summer may be a quiet one for Garnacho with substitute appearances likely to be the focus, but it’s clear that the Argentina staff are happy with his development ahead of returning to United.
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