Man United can unleash their own Vinicius Jr as clear message sent to Erik ten Hag

Alejandro Garnacho has sent a clear message to Vinicius Junior following his stunning night with Real Madrid in the Champions League. The Brazil international netted a hat-trick as the reigning champions came from two goals down to beat Borussia Dortmund 5-2 at Santiago Bernabeu.

Another three goals for Vinicius took him up to eight for the season alongside seven assists from 14 appearances in all competitions. Garnacho meanwhile, has eight goal contributions in the first few months of the 2024/25 campaign but has played almost half as many minutes.

Only recently has the Argentine returned to being a consistent starter with three of the first four Premier League games of the season seeing him named on the bench and forced to impress in a cameo with the aim of breaking into the starting XI.

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Following that, Garnacho has now played the full 90 minutes of United's last four league games with faith from Erik Ten Hag rewarded in the weekend victory against Brentford. With the Bees having taken the lead, Garnacho fired in a superb equaliser after volleying in Marcus Rashford's deep cross.

Rasmus Hojlund then grabbed the winner from a Bruno Fernandes pass which saw all of United's four starting attackers grab a goal contribution. Asked specifically about Garnacho after the game, Ten Hag has thrown down a clear challenge for him to begin scoring regularly.

"He has to [score more] if he wants to be a better player," he said. "I know what he is capable of, that is why I play him so often. He is a threat and has