Tough forward thinking with exits talk despite lack of goals

ALEJANDRO Garnacho has a pre-match ritual of grabbing a coffee for his journey to Old Trafford. Friday's news could be more stimulating.

- SAMUEL LUCKHURST

Garnacho is not actively pursuing a move away from United but the club's shift that any academy player is deemed fair game as far as sales go has drawn interested shoppers to their market stall.

It is paradoxical that United, still with a minus goal difference, would effectively beckon bidders to the table for a player who was their top scorer this season before the South-ampton salvage operation.

Garnacho has gone from unsellable to sellable in six months.

He is a victim of the Premier League's flawed profitability and sustain-ability rules that incentivise academy sales.

That is manna of heaven for Chelsea and Manchester City, clubs whose academies have been cash-cows for several years.

United have not milked theirs but are famed for producing first team-ready prodigies.

Yet Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo, seemingly the poster boys of this new era, could have their images pulled down from bedroom walls of United-supporting kids.

Garnacho's omission from the Manchester derby squad last month is almost moot as speculation swirls.

He has played in every game since, seeking to stay whereas Marcus Rashford is looking to go.

His style jars with Ruben Amorim's 3-4-3 formation, though the Portuguese clarified Garnacho is striving to adapt.

Garnacho was developed as a winger at a club famed for developing wingers and has been suddenly tasked with reinventing himself. He would be a like-for-like replacement for the silky Khvicha Kvaratskhelia on Napoli's left wing.