Alejandro Garnacho has been warned that he must tone down his arrogane if he wants to represent Argentina at next year’s World Cup. The forward has been overlooked by his nation for almost 12 months and his summer move to Chelsea has done little to alter the situation.
Garnacho left Manchester United in a £40million deal to join the Blues during the summer window. Whilst he has endured a slow start at Stamford Bridge, he did find the net for the first time in his seventh outing at the weekend. His exit from United followed a breakdown in relations with Ruben Amorim. He reacted angrily to being named on the bench for the Europa League final and was subsequently placed in the ‘bomb squad’ after being informed he was surplus to requirements.
Garnacho opened his account for Chelsea in Saturday’s defeat to Sunderland, though his playing time has been restricted to a mere 331 minutes thus far.
He was persuaded to make the switch to Stamford Bridge following discussions with Maresca, yet his major goal of playing for Argentina at the World Cup remains distant.
Argentina manager Lionel Scaloni has not selected Garnacho for nearly a year and Oscar Ruggeri, who earned 97 caps between 1983 and 1994, has offered guidance to the youngster.
“He’s no better than anyone else, you’re a football player, enjoy it, but you shouldn’t be so full of yourself,” he told TNT Sports.
“It’s pointless because you miss out on so much. Someone has to bring him down to earth. They’re not calling him up to the national team.
“If he comes back down to earth like he was, they’ll call him up again because he’s phenomenal on the pitch.”
Ruggeri understands the exceptionally high expectations placed upon the Argentina squad, who will defend the World Cup across the United States, Canada and Mexico next year.
Scaloni has maintained that fierce competition for positions and Garnacho’s inconsistent performances have driven his omission from the squad.
“The reason for not calling up Garnacho? Ale’s non-selection is due to a form issue,” the boss explained last November.
“We don’t like to bring players in and constantly leave them out or leave them out of the squad. Everyone wants to be there and it’s great, but the human side plays and you have to make decisions.
“It would have been easy to bring him in, but in the last few call-ups he didn’t get minutes and there are times when you have to make decisions, but he’s a guy who’s on our radar and he’s going to continue to be there and he has a huge future.”
