As wind-up tactics go, wearing the shirt of another club next to a yellow Ferrari is a guaranteed way to annoy fans and burn bridges with one’s employer.
Manchester United are ‘seething’ over Alejandro Garnacho’s holiday snap, shared this week on Instagram, and are reportedly more determined than ever to secure a deal to sell the Argentina winger.
Garnacho’s shirt of choice in Ibiza was that of Aston Villa, where United teammate Marcus Rashford spent the second half of last season on loan and with whom Garnacho himself has been linked this summer.
Red Devils fans are understandably dischuffed about the 20-year-old’s attire and posting the picture has been seen as a calculated act of aggression on the part of the player.
His future was already in doubt. United head coach Ruben Amorim is not entirely enamoured with the winger and told him before the end of the season that he could find a new club in the transfer window.
But with United apparently setting an eye-watering asking price of £60m, Garnacho’s unpopular stunt – which won’t have gone unnoticed by potential buying clubs – might have gone some way to breaking the deadlock.
According to reporting by the Daily Star, Man United co-owner Jim Ratcliffe is ‘even willing to lower his asking price’ to ensure ‘sulk’ Garnacho isn’t sauntering into Carrington in a Villa shirt for pre-season training.
“United value Garnacho at £60m, but accept his fall-out with Ruben Amorim and the club’s desperation to get shut of him mean the price will not be met,” writes Jeremy Cross.
“The Red Devils might have to accept a bid of around £45m instead, but would be willing to do this to strike a deal for Garnacho.”
Selling Garnacho would mean his fee is accounted for as immediate profit, which is important in the context of Premier League profit and sustainability rules.
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Under PSR, clubs can make maximum allowable losses of £105m over the course of any three-year period. Selling academy graduates for big fees can take chunks out of those losses at a time and if the players aren’t wanted by the head coach, so much the better.
Garnacho started seven fewer Premier League games in 2024-25 than the previous season. While some of those were in 2025, it was evident that the winger was unfancied by Amorim.
He started nine league matches in a row in the spring, with United’s focus starting to shift towards the Europa League, but was named on the bench against West Ham United and Chelsea before missing out on the last game against Villa entirely.
The Argentina youngster came off the bench in the Europa League final against Tottenham Hotspur in Bilbao and the chances of him winning Amorim’s affection appear to be extremely slim.
Flaunting his merchandise collection on social media is likely to ensure the same can be said of supporters.
