Ruben Amorim has stated that Alejandro Garnacho will “pay for a dinner” for Manchester United’s players to say sorry for heading straight to the tunnel on being substituted in Wednesday’s 3-2 win over Ipswich at Old Trafford.
After Patrick Dorgu was sent off Amorim sacrificed Garnacho and brought on the defender Noussair Mazraoui, prompting the winger to head straight for the dressing room. On Thursday Garnacho sought Amorim out to address his reaction.
The head coach said: “It was funny because the next day he came to me, to my office. I did some investigations, and he went to the dressing room, he changed his clothes because he was wet. He watched the game in a different [place], not on the bench. At the end of the game he was there, then he went home, so there’s not an issue there.
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“But I told [him] that in Manchester United everything is important, and the perception in a big club is really important, so he’s going to pay for dinner for the team, and that’s it. He’s a young kid that will learn. The important thing is that the next morning he was speaking with me. We have to understand the situation, the context, the age of the players.
“Of course, they have to be better, they have to understand that perception here is really important. But, like I said, you can deal with that the next day and move on, so let’s just move on.”
Garnacho should be available for Sunday’s FA Cup fifth-round visit of Fulham. “Yes,” said Amorim. “He has a knock. I expect him to be ready, but we will see.”
Amorim also responded to Roy Keane’s criticism of his captain, Bruno Fernandes. United’s former captain questioned the midfielder’s leadership, saying on the Overlap podcast that “talent is not enough”.
“I heard about that,” Amorim said. “I have a different opinion. Bruno is really important for us in the club, especially for me. I know sometimes he does things as a captain, like with his arms, and sometimes you see it like criticising teammates. I think most of all it’s a lot of frustration for this year and the last year and the others.
“Everybody has an opinion. Roy Keane has big standards from him in his time and it’s normal to have an opinion. I have an opposite opinion, and it’s more important my opinion than Roy Keane[’s] because I am the coach and I think he [Fernandes] is doing things quite well.”
