Rasmus Hojlund went ballistic at Alejandro Garnacho for missing an easy chance during the early stages of Manchester United’s game against Southampton.
The Red Devils went into the match as the overwhelming favourites to win but struggled to gain a foothold in the contest, with Southampton seeing plenty of the ball in the opening exchanges.
Kamaldeen Sulemana gave United a scare when he skinned Leny Yoro and fired at goal, but Andre Onana was equal to it and got down low to parry the ball away from danger.
Minutes later, the hosts launched a blistering counter-attack with Hojlund’s mazy run opening up space for Garnacho in the centre of the box.
Hojlund played a simple lay-off for his team-mate, who struck a first-time effort but was unable to hit the target after getting his bearings all wrong.
It left the Dane enraged, having worked so hard to carve out a golden chance for the Red Devils to open the scoring. He reacted furiously by kicking the post in a fit of rage before screaming at Garnacho as United’s players trudged back into position.
Garnacho was picked to start by Ruben Amorim despite the winger being linked with a potential move to Napoli. Reports have suggested that United have already turned down an opening bid for the 20-year-old, who remains tied down until 2028.
Amorim was quizzed on Garnacho’s situation earlier this week and expressed a desire to keep him at Old Trafford, but urged him to keep working on his game in order to meet expectations.
“That is clear,” replied the United boss when asked if Garnacho still had a future at the club. “He has talent. He needs to learn to play in a different position, he needs to play better inside.
“He improves a lot in the recovering position when he doesn’t have the ball, but doing that, sometimes he’s not in the right place to make transitions like he was in the past.
“I prefer to defend and then build up with the entire team to reach the final third. He’s finding the best way to play in this system. He’s improving during training.”
Garnacho has struggled to adjust to Amorim’s demands since the Portuguese manager was appointed to replace Erik ten Hag in November. His glaring miss against Southampton will have done little to get him into the good books.