Rio Ferdinand says Roy Keane’s criticism of Manchester United star Alejandro Garnacho, who reminds him of one of his former teammates, is “hard to understand”.
Garnacho was dropped for the Manchester derby in December along with Marcus Rashford and has been in and out of the team since, but starred in Friday’s FA Cup victory over Leicester having come off the bench at half-time.
The Argentinian provided a much-needed spark and created the opener for Joshua Zirkzee before Harry Maguire scored his controversial late winner.
After the game, United legend Keane argued that head coach Ruben Amorim cannot “trust” Garnacho when he starts.
“I think it suits him when it comes off the bench, I don’t think you can trust him when he starts,” Keane said.
“But when he comes off the bench and you’re gambling and the team is stretched, that’s when he comes into his own.
“They put Leicester on the backfoot and the subs came on. That’s what Garnacho does well. The first-half they were going sideways and sideways. He came on and tested them.”
Ferdinand disagrees, insisting Garnacho is one of few players Amorim has at his disposal who “want the ball”.
Speaking on Rio Presents, Ferdinand said: “I don’t think his [Garnacho] stats are unbelievable this season but in terms of impacting the game and putting the other team on the back foot, he is probably one of the only players who does it in our team.
“You look at him and say his game isn’t 100 per cent clean but that can be developed. But he doesn’t lack effort, he doesn’t lack energy.
“He’s got a pair of b******s that says he wants the ball, he will take the ball anywhere.
“He has got that belief and character that says I should be here and I should be playing. ‘Give me the ball at all times’.
“And in the situation we are in now where there are a lot of players shying away from the ball when the team aren’t doing well, he stands out like a sore form in that respect.”
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Ferdinand went onto compare Garnacho to former teammate Nani, whose end product was constantly under scrutiny during his early years at Old Trafford.
“He reminds me of Nani. One of the frustrations is he would get to it [the ball] and make the wrong decision or he would get to it and his execution wouldn’t be clean.
“But these players grow into that when given the time. Comments like that when you say he can’t be trusted… that’s a big comment for a young kid.
“I understand Roy might believe that but when you look at alternatives… If there were loads more options I would understand it but there is nothing else there that offers what he does and it is a hard one to understand.”
