Manchester United proved that the ‘new manager bounce’ term is not a myth by thrashing Leicester City 5-2 in the Carabao Cup fourth round.
It was their first match since Erik ten Hag’s sacking and the Red Devils showcased some thrilling attacking football to wow Old Trafford in interim boss Ruud van Nistelrooy’s first game in charge.
One player who looked particularly sharp was winger Alejandro Garnacho, who is an intriguing Fantasy Premier League (FPL) option.
He was one of many players who looked completely revitalized, as the Red Devils scored five in one game after managing that in their last three matches under Ten Hag.
The ‘new manager bounce’ promises that whenever a team gets a new manager, they’re bound to experience a surge in form.
That is definitely viable for Garnacho, who showcased better movement and a more crisp final product than he did in Ten Hag’s final weeks.
With Ruben Amorim poised to take up the Manchester United manager role soon, this is a chance that these players enjoy this ‘bounce’ for a prolonged period.
That is probably the reason for millions of FPL managers thinking of drafting Manchester United players, especially Garnacho, into their teams.
For those teams looking for a midfielder in the £6m-£7m range, Garnacho can actually be an affective option.
Even though he’s listed as a midfielder, the Argentine youngster is often given utmost freedom to run through in the box and often gets himself into many prime goal-scoring situations.
He’s scored just two goals in nine matches this, but the Leicester City performance and a new manager might give him a spark to go on a goal contribution ruin.
A major reason for Garnacho being an enticing FPL option is how United’s next few fixtures are lined up as.
Four of their next six Premier League matches are at Old Trafford and the Argentine winger has proven himself at his strongest at home.
Garnacho has five official goals this season (barring the Community Shield one) and four of those have come at Old Trafford.
He likes playing at the Theatre of Dreams, with the energy of the crowd feeding him into better positions.
Garnacho is also one of the two under-21 players in Europe (with Lamine Yamal) to have 10+ goal contributions this season. He’s going to get better as the season wears along.
His directness and ability to smartly wander into goal-scoring situations, like he did against Leicester, make him a very exciting prospect.
At £6.2m, Garnacho can even be slotted in as a third midfielder option in a team that potentially has other midfielders like Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka or Mo Salah. Other ‘competitors’ to Garnacho in that price-range include the likes of Noni Madueke, Brennan Johnson and Dejan Kulusevski.
But neither of those players have that ‘new manager bounce’ momentum behind them, and the three are actually more expensive than Garnacho too.
With that being said, it’s not all ‘sunshine and rainbows’ to picking Garnacho in FPL. There are some danger signs to be wary of too.
The Argentine winger has no assists this season and possess little creative threat. He is also quite wasteful, having missed a plethora of chances in many games this season – including in Ten Hag’s final match (loss to West Ham United).
There is also an air of uncertainty over Garnacho’s potential role in Ruben Amorim’s system.
The Portuguese coach prefers playing a 3-4-3 formation with two attacking wing-backs and the forward trio having a striker and two wide forwards who can often move in central areas to cause trouble.
The wide forwards are also given a lot of creative responsible, so Garnacho might struggle in such a role under Amorim.
He could also face stiff competition from the likes of Marcus Rashford and Bruno Fernandes for that position and isn’t a guaranteed starter in Amorim’s system right now. But the positives probably outweigh the negatives in this aspect.
Garnacho is an impact substitute (one of his two league games came from the bench) and is someone whose hunger for goals gets him into the best areas of the pitch.
Because of United’s favorable schedule over the next month and how promising the winger looked against Leicester, this might be a risk worth taking.
