You don’t have to look too hard to see just how much Alejandro Garnacho idolises Cristiano Ronaldo. The 19-year-old isn’t subtle.
There was the use of Ronaldo’s ‘siuuu’ celebration following his incredible overhead kick at Everton, or the CR7 boxers he was photographed wearing away to Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup this season.
A night off at the bowling alley and some friends was also a not-so-subtle sign, with Garnacho putting ‘Cristiano’ as his name on the leaderboard.
Comparisons to a teenage Ronaldo are inevitable.
Alejandro Garnacho (left) idolises Cristiano Ronaldo (right) and is keen to replicate him
His brother once shared a snap from a bowling alley where Garnacho called himself ‘Cristiano’
Both burst onto the scene at Old Trafford as a winger, playing on both sides, and they have typically been the most exciting player on their teams.
Both grew up smitten with Real Madrid and there is plenty of noise that Garnacho will one day follow in the footsteps of Ronaldo and head to the Bernabeu.
For now he’s at Manchester United, a crucially important piece for Manchester United, with the world at his feet.
‘I’m really excited about him,’ Paul Scholes once said of Garnacho.
‘Whenever I see him I’m impressed. He’s a superstar in the making. He’s so brave in possession. He’s very much the way Cristiano was as a young player.
‘He doesn’t mind being kicked, he gets up, he goes for more he scores goals. He’s got a lot of growing to do and once he gets a manly body and physical strength, I don’t think there’s much stopping him.’
The pair played together briefly at Manchester United and Garnacho (right) called it a ‘dream’
After scoring this spectacular goal at Everton, Garnacho copied Ronaldo’s ‘siuuuu’ celebration
Garnacho has that drive, that skill, that gets fans off their seats, an unpredictability that, while it can still go a long way to being refined, is the type of show-stopping ability fans crave.
Ronaldo had that in bucketloads and while it would be grossly unfair to put pressure on Garnacho and say that he will go on to mirror the success of a five-time Ballon d’Or winner, the early signs are certainly good.
His love of Ronaldo goes beyond simple fandom, he quite clearly has studied the game of his idol and is looking to implement in his own game where he can.
After scoring what should be the Premier League’s Goal of the Season at Everton, team-mate and United captain Bruno Fernandes joked: ‘Probably he’s watching too many Cristiano clips! We all know that he’s a big fan.
‘There is still a long way for him to be like Cristiano but he’s getting his steps.
‘He wants to be something special in the world of football and I think he has the capability to do that, but he has to do more than that goal.’
Fernandes has been around Ronaldo for club and country and knows just how high the bar is to hold a mirror up to the Al-Nassr attacker.
He was also pictured wearing CR7 boxer shorts during an FA Cup match earlier this season
But Fernandes is also switched on enough to take Garnacho under his wing in a bid to keep the pushing the teenager for greatness.
A look at the start shows that in 39 starts Garnacho has scored 12 times and registered seven assists, compared to Ronaldo’s 10 goals and 10 assists from 51 starts before the age of 20.
With United decimated by injuries this season, while underperforming stars have been sent out on loan or demoted to the bench, Garnacho is now one of the go-to men for Erik ten Hag, meaning he has had to mature quickly and shoulder a lot of responsibility.
‘I think it was necessary [to mature] but when you are young that’s normal,’ Ten Hag said before Garnacho’s stellar display in the FA Cup quarter-final win over Liverpool where he had two assists.
‘When you are young and grow into an adult, grow more senior, football players have to quickly become an adult. You have to take a lot of responsibility and you have to know that, and learn how to do that, that’s a process.
‘He’s on a good way, going in a good direction and he knows in the meantime what it takes and also why it is necessary, why you need that standard to act as a team to a good level.
‘You achieve the right levels when you keep the focus and it’s not all about you, it’s about the team and it’s about contributing to the team.’
All of this Ronaldo talk – and love-in – makes things suitably awkward when he links up with Argentina, where Ronaldo’s long-time rival Lionel Messi is No 1. If not awkward it makes for plenty of jokes as Garnacho soon discovered.
Ronaldo left Manchester United and took his superstardom to another level with Real Madrid
Garnacho (left) is said to dream of one day playing for Real Madrid – but Manchester United fans hope he can be convinced to stay at Old Trafford for the long term given his fine form
‘We joked about it with him. He is very shy and does not answer. Poor guy, we drove him crazy,’ midfielder Leandro Paredes told DSports in December.
‘We also talked to him about what the group is, somehow we try to make them feel part of it and feel comfortable. Although in this case he got very nervous and couldn’t talk.
‘But as he said, I think he is his idol, he always followed him a lot and he plays quite similar. So it’s normal, nothing happens.
‘Obviously, when he comes to the national team he has to change a little bit because there is ours.’
For United fans they will hope the allure of Real Madrid remains in the distance for the time being… even if the collision course to follow in the steps of his idol in Spain feel inevitable one day.
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