Manchester United have sent Alvaro Fernandez out on loan in search of game time.
The 20-year-old chose La Liga as his destination, with Granada being the side that decided to take a punt on the Manchester United star.
Things had been looking good for Alvaro Fernandez. He was getting a decent amount of minutes and also started four times for the Spaniards.
However, things seem to appear to have slowed down, which couldn’t have happened at a worse time for Erik ten Hag.
Alvaro Fernandez out of favour at struggling Granada
After a run of featuring in four successive games over October, Fernandez has seriously struggled for game time for Granada since.
The young man has only played 93 minutes since the 5th of November 2023, with it becoming particularly of note over the past few games he’s fallen way out of favour.
He featured for just 7 minutes against Real Madrid, then not at all against Athletic Club. Considering Fernandez’s purpose for leaving to Spain was a bid to obtain game time – this is extremely worrying.
This is only made worse by the fact Granada are serial struggler in La Liga, sitting four points off the bottom in 19th place.
Mixed news for Erik ten Hag
Long-term this could be bad news for Erik ten Hag, who may reflect that Fernandez is no closer to challenging for the United first team next season.
In the short-term it may suggest Ten Hag was right that Fernandez was not ready to fill in at Old Trafford if he can’t hold down a spot for Granada.
With Luke Shaw‘s persistent injury problems and lack of back-up left-back at the moment, it was thought that Fernandez may be able to come in and provide some much-needed depth to the position for next season.
Now with the knowledge he’s struggling to find game time in a depleted Granada side who are currently relegation-bound, it’s hard to think he could make the step-up to Old Trafford.
Time will tell as to whether his season gets any better – but for now, it’s heading in a downwards trajectory.
from United In Focus https://ift.tt/ZSgIoBO