Scholes ‘fears’ Amorim is steering Man Utd into £70m transfer disaster

Paul Scholes fears Manchester United will sell a top performer who’ll become a world beater elsewhere, and TEAMtalk can confirm the club’s stance on cashing in.

Man Utd have a chance to salvage their season after advancing to the final of the Europa League. Tottenham – who’ve beaten the Red Devils in all three of the matches they’ve contested this year – await in the final in Bilbao.

Key to Man Utd’s aims of winning the Europa League and securing Champions League qualification will be Alejandro Garnacho.

The Argentina international, 20, looked to be on thin ice around the turn of the year when both he and Marcus Rashford were omitted from matchday squads by Ruben Amorim.

But while Rashford was turfed out on loan to Aston Villa, Garnacho knuckled down at Old Trafford and has won Amorim over.

The attacker has been an automatic selection under Amorim over the last two-three months, but despite hitting double figures in both goals and assists this season, he lacks a natural position in the eleven.

Garnacho is at his best when operating on the left wing in a front three. Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 formation sees the two players behind the striker operate more centrally, with the width provided by the wing-backs.

When speaking about Garnacho on TNT Sports, United legend, Paul Scholes, revealed his fears Man Utd will sell Garnacho who can score “25-30 goals” per season elsewhere.

“He’s perfect in a regular 4-3-3,” began Scholes (as cited by the MEN). “He will be a real threat. He needs to tidy up his decision-making and finishing, sometimes his final ball is a bit rash but he’s a young player so that’s to be expected.

“I fear we will sell him for £50-£60m for PSR reasons. It’s been rumoured, hasn’t it? I fear he will end up scoring 25 to 30 goals for somebody else, that’s how good I think this lad can be.

“Shoehorning him into this system might be tricky, I’m struggling to find a position for him in Ruben Amorim’s system. I don’t want them to sell him, I hate the thought of that, but I think they could do. I wouldn’t like it. He frustrates me but he’s often the biggest threat for Manchester United.”

As mentioned, Garnacho has been featuring regularly in one of the two spots behind the striker of late.

However, Matheus Cunha of Wolves is on course to join and the Brazilian has been earmarked to play alongside Bruno Fernandes in the dual role.

With Amad Diallo also pushing for starts in those positions and Mason Mount providing a timely reminder of what he’s capable of on Thursday night, Garnacho could quickly find himself spending more time on the bench than he’d like.

Will Man Utd really sell Alejandro Garnacho?

Man Utd were willing to offload Garnacho in January if their target valuation of £70m was met. It’s important to stress the club were NOT actively pushing the winger out, though they were open to a sale for PSR purposes as Scholes alluded to.

Napoli bid €50m / £42m which fell well short of United’s asking price. Chelsea flirted with a move before ultimately choosing not to bid after failing to find a buyer for Christopher Nkunku.

TEAMtalk’s transfer insider, Fraser Fletcher, has been able to confirm Man Utd’s stance on Garnacho ahead of the summer window opening on June 1.

Sources have informed Fletcher that United’s stance is unchanged, meaning they won’t push Garnacho out, but will weigh up a sale if bids of roughly £70m are received.

Napoli continue to be linked with Garnacho, while Bayer Leverkusen and Atletico Madrid are also showing interest.

Leverkusen would appear to stand very little chance of sealing a deal given they cannot come close to financing a £70m outlay.

Latest Man Utd news – Postecoglou lashes out ahead of Europa League final

In other news, Tottenham boss Ange Postecoglou lashed out at reporters when asked if beating Man Utd in the final of the Europa League will save their season. Ruben Amorim has previously gone on record to state his side winning the tournament would NOT make up for a dire domestic campaign.

Postecoglou was not impressed when Matt Law of The Telegraph asked: “Manchester United have constantly said this competition won’t save their season – managers have said it, players have said it. Would it save Tottenham’s season, is it different for Tottenham?”

An irked Postecoglou then flipped the question back to the journalist: “You probably know better than me and probably followed this club longer than I have. What do you think a trophy would do for this club?

“Massive,” came the reply.

“Exactly right, so the question answers itself,” Postecoglou explained. “But what’s happening right now is that people are fearing that, that it actually might happen.

“Because it might happen they’re thinking, ‘let’s see how we can tear it down somehow, diminish it somehow by saying it’s been a poor season, we don’t deserve this, we don’t deserve that’, or somehow comparing us to Man United.”

“Maybe if we had Manchester United’s success, maybe I’d have a different view. But I came into this role and I could have been sitting here in 5th position and I guarantee they’d be saying ‘this club needs to win something’.

“That’s exactly what everyone would be saying. Of course, it’s massive because you have to frame it against what this club has been through in the past 15-20 years.

“Man United have got their own journey to go on and maybe if they go 15 years without winning something, they’ll change their perspective on things as well.”

Alejandro Garnacho QUIZ: Think you know Man Utd’s No 17? ⬇️