Alejandro Garnacho's Cristiano Ronaldo comparisons shot down by former Man Utd star as Argentina winger is told the one area he must improve to stop team-mates becoming unhappy

Garnacho's ridiculous overhead-kick against Everton last year - which was named the Premier League's Goal of the Season - drew comparisons with Ronaldo's bicycle kick for Real Madrid against Juventus. There are other similarities between the 20-year-old Argentina winger and Ronaldo when the Portuguese was in the early stages of his United career, although former Red Devils defender John O'Shea, who played alongside Ronaldo for nine seasons, believes Garnacho still has a long way to go towards being on the same path as the five-time Ballon d'Or winner.

O'Shea told GOAL: "Not yet, there’s definitely some spectacular goals which are very similar, [but] Alejandro will have to keep improving. Ronaldo used to be able to get away with certain things on the pitch - eventually his team-mates would have been happy with him not running or chasing back because he was producing, he was always getting goals, there were always assists, there was always end product. Until you get to that level of consistency you have to match your work rate around the team as well, it’s not just Garnacho, all the players have to realise that. If you're not going to track back, you’re not going to put in the hard yards, your team-mates aren’t going to be too happy with you, unless you’re getting goals and assists every game."

Like O'Shea, Garnacho came through United's youth academy although he joined a little later than the Irishman, signing for the Red Devils from Atletico Madrid when he was just 16. Garnacho and 19-year-old Kobbie Mainoo, alongside whom he won the FA Youth Cup in 2022, are the latest success stories from the club's academy. United have had at least one player from their youth system in every matchday squad for the last 87 years and the academy is in rude health at the moment. The under-18 side won a league and cup double last season and have won all 10 of their games so far this season, scoring 46 goals while conceding just four. Former United midfielder Darren Fletcher's twin sons Jack and Tyler are in the youth set up, as is Kai Rooney, son of the club's record goalscorer Wayne. O'Shea said: "I think it’s in a great place. United are about to get another influx of younger talent and that proud tradition the club has of having an academy player in matchday squads is going to continue. Kobbie is the latest to come on the scene, there’s lots more bubbling away ready to come. They’ll soon come on the scene and some of my former team-mates' kids are not too far away either. There’s good pedigree on the way."

O'Shea was speaking to GOAL on behalf of the United We Play programme, a grassroots football initiative from Apollo Tyres in partnership with Manchester United, which encourages young football talent from countries underrepresented in football’s top leagues. The programme empowers young footballers from untapped communities to showcase their performance at the highest level and recently brought five young players from India, Nepal and Thailand - selected from a pool of 15,000 hopefuls - to visit United's Carrington training ground and Old Trafford, honing their talent with club coaches.

The Red Devils are reeling from losing two successive games to Arsenal and Nottingham Forest - their first defeats under Ruben Amorim - and will be looking to get back on track away to Viktoria Plzen in the Europa League on Thursday before facing arch rivals Manchester City on Sunday. O'Shea has been impressed with the new coach but believes he has a big task on his hands. "In terms of a personality I really like him, how he goes about dealing with everything so far. He’s trying to put a new system in place. I'm sure some players are adapting quicker than others, some players will flourish in the system and I think the other players will get it eventually but the manager will want them to get it a bit quicker. Obviously there’s a new energy and freshness from his staff but the players will have to respond to that quickly because of the amount of games that’s coming in December, it’s crazy."