Erik ten Hag was delighted with Alejandro Garnacho’s performance for Manchester United against Rayo Vallecano.
Garnacho travelled with United on their pre-season tour of Thailand and Australia, but he didn’t make a single appearance on that tour. Garnacho was also not selected to travel to Oslo, Norway to play against Atletico Madrid on Saturday afternoon.
However, that meant Garnacho was given the opportunity to start against Rayo Vallecano at Old Trafford on Sunday. The game against the La Liga side was United’s final match of pre-season and a chance for Garnacho to impress Ten Hag.
Garnacho played 70 minutes in the match and he looked dangerous throughout after starting on the left-wing. Ten Hag was asked about the youngster after the game and he admitted that he thought his performance was ‘really good’.
“Overall, definitely [happy with pre-season], I think we make a good pre-season and we make good progress,” Ten Hag told MUTV. “We are ready for the season, but I know there is still a lot of room for improvement and we have to improve.
“That is also a process that continues in the season, but for next week it’s about the result as well. It [team selection] was a mixture of experience and youth, some guys met each other for the first time today, so what can you expect?
“You saw the attitude was great, they fought and worked for each other and it was positive. We created a lot of chances, okay, we also conceded chances, but I think we have to be satisfied with the performance.
“We want to give the young players who deserve a chance the opportunity to play. He [Garnacho] showed himself during pre-season and that’s why he played. He played pretty well and his performance was really good.”
