Alejandro Garnacho has a new status at Manchester United - but he won't like it

Only Joshua Zirkzee's knee has prevented Alejandro Garnacho from compiling a perfect record for Manchester United this season. In four appearances off the bench, he has two goals and an assist.

The 20-year-old scored within 23 minutes of coming on against Manchester City, created Zirkee's winner after 26 minutes on the pitch against Fulham and scored against Southampton on Saturday after 17 minutes of action. He had taken just six minutes to flash past Jack Stephens and tempt the Saints defender into a tackle that earned him a red card.

It was another electrifying cameo for the Argentine, who could easily be on three goals for the season already. He looked to have found the back of the net just five minutes after coming on at Brighton, only for replays to show his shot hit Zirkzee on the line, with the striker in an offside position.

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The disappointment for Garnacho is that his least effective performance of the season came in his only start, when he managed 68 minutes against Liverpool before being replaced. He managed zero shots in that game and just one shot-creating action, numbers he has bettered in all his cameos off the bench.

In a way, he has become a victim of his success this season. While his form deserves a start, he is influencing games off the bench in a consistent manner that is difficult to achieve. He is becoming the ultimate game-changing sub for United and that might, conversely, make starts harder to come by.

It's a rapid change of status for a winger who started 38 successive games last season, a run that stretched from November 1 to May