After a game in which Manchester United fans roundly booed a player they very recently considered one of their greatest hopes for the future, a number of them took a step towards ostracising a new great hope by abusing them on social media for their association with that most abominable defector.
“Who’s that t*** from Argentina? Who’s that money-grabbing w**re” was the chant aimed at Alejandro Garnacho by the Red Devils faithful, all of whom will have no doubt sung ‘Viva Garnacho’ in earnest throughout a Manchester United career which, lest we forget, was cut short by Ruben Amorim, not Garnacho himself.
READ MORE: 16 Conclusions on Manchester United 2-1 Chelsea: Amorim passes the sack baton to Maresca
Sure, Garnacho described the season as “sh*t” when asked for his assessment after being dropped for the Europa League final. But not one single United fan will have disagreed with that. And it was Amorim who told Garnacho in front of his teammates ahead of the final league game of the season that “you better pray you can find a new club to sign you”. He may well be a “money-grabbing w**re”, but he was given no option but to leave United.
We understand some hostility on the basis of Garnacho wearing Marcus Rashford’s Aston Villa shirt, which was an absurdly childish means to wind up the club which was still paying his wages, but the decision had already been made by that point. He was never going to play for United again.
Garnacho’s unforgivable crime was not being in the plans of a manager whose Old Trafford tenure is still widely deemed to be doomed despite the win over Chelsea, largely because of his failure to waver from a philosophy and formation unsuited to the vast majority of the players still in his squad, let alone those like Garnacho who have already escaped it.
The 21-year-old was denied the opportunity to further rile with a goal and we suspect what would have been a badge-kissing celebration, but the Garnacho-obsessed United fans didn’t skip a post-match opportunity to make their confused feelings felt, when they piled on Amad Diallo for swapping shirts with the Argentinian.
MORE ON MAN UTD 2-1 CHELSEA FROM F365
👉 Redknapp hails ‘magnificent’ Man Utd star as Bruno Fernandes lauds ‘mentality’ of Red Devils duo
👉 Maresca ‘exposed as Chelsea fraud’ as Man Utd show ‘the pure unadulterated power of AmorimBall’
👉 Chelsea implode at Man Utd as Amorim gifted crucial win by inept Maresca
Amad was seen hugging Garnacho at full-time, like you or I might do when meeting a pal, before later posting a picture on Instagram of him and his former teammate smiling and posing with one another’s shirts, quite possibly under the instruction of Lead3rS, the agency which represents both of them.
The more P.C. responses from United fans to the post, reported by The Sun, included ‘Amad is an idiot’, ‘Amad doing this sh*t after dropping a stinker’ and ‘can you read the room Amad?’ We don’t know how extensive and unpleasant the reaction was, though we can guess as the result was Amad deleting that post, all other Instagram posts and all but one on X.
Our question to United fans is a simple one: Why do you care? The only effect of abusing Amad for being friends with Garnacho is to alienate another young player.
It would have been unthinkable a year ago for Garnacho and fellow ‘untouchable’ Rasmus Hojlund to be playing elsewhere this season, while a third in Kobbie Mainoo looks for an exit. Amad was last season’s brightest spark, and is now being presented with reasons to think a future away from United is an attractive prospect by fans who can’t help but stick the boot in where it’s not needed.
The switch from unadulterated love for Garnacho to pure hatred is weird enough, but for that remarkable feelings U-turn to extend to anyone who comes into contact with him is absolutely ridiculous.
