Manchester United showed that their Premier League campaign might have no life, but they certainly do in their 4-3 loss to Brentford.
A 4-1 scoreline for Brentford turned into a scare after Alejandro Garnacho and Amad scored two late goals to set up a nervy finish.
The 4-3 loss is not ideal, and even worse is the injury to Matthijs de Ligt, but it also taught Man Utd a crucial lesson for the summer transfer window.
It’s that they are set to repeat the mistake they made with Scott McTominay. Only this time, the repercussions will be much, much worse.
Man Utd’s Scott McTominay mistake
It is worth stating that there are no guarantees that McTominay would have done as well as Old Trafford as he’s doing now at Napoli.
Having said that, it is also clear that McTominay was mis-profiled at United as a defensive hardman when he’s much better crashing the box and scoring goals.
He’s leading Napoli’s title charge and has already gained icon status in Naples, quite a feat for a player who man Man Utd fans were happy to see the back of.
Now near the end of the season, that move has aged as a mistake by Man Utd not because they mipsprofiled him, although that is an issue, but that they didn’t know his true value.
Today, if someone wants to McTominay from Napoli, he’s probably untouchable and talks likely begin north of £60 million.
The worst thing is that United are set to repeat this mistake and the Brentford game showed that it would be unforgivable this time out, no hindsight needed.
Man Utd shouldn’t entertain Alejandro Garnacho offers
It is poetic that the team who is using McTominay well now is also insistent on signing Alejandro Garnacho, the star of the game against Brentford.
Garnacho’s exit to Napoli was a concrete possibility in January, and the rumours are set to return in the summer window as well.
It’s insane that a 20-year-old playing in a team having two of its worst seasons back-to-back has contributed 21 goals and assists now across all competitions and he’s still the subject of exit rumours.
Worse still, the asking price being quoted about for Garnacho is in the region of £50 million, a laughable amount regardless of his status as an academy product.
The Argentine has shown that he can come back from adversity to become undroppable at such a young age and he’s improving with every game now that he finally has stability at coaching level.
McTominay sale looks bad with the benefit of hindsight after he’s impressing at Napoli, but United will be selling Garnacho for peanuts who’s already impressing at Old Trafford and improving a ton.
It would be unforgivable.
Receive a digest of our best United content each week direct to your mailbox
