Alejandro Garnacho has been warned he is ‘risking ruining his career’ at Manchester United after his reaction to being subbed off against Ipswich Town.
United were reduced to 10 men in the first-half of Wednesday’s 3-2 win over the Tractor Boys with Patrick Dorgu shown a straight red card.
Ruben Amorim opted to replace Garnacho with Noussair Mazraoui two minutes before half-time with the winger heading straight down the tunnel towards the dressing room rather than taking his seat on the bench.
The Argentina international appeared to indicate he wanted to change his shirt after heavy rain in Manchester that night with Amorim later revealing he planned to discuss the incident with his player.
Garnacho was dropped from the United squad in December for the Manchester derby but has fought his way back into contention with Amorim praising him for ‘changing everything’ to win over the head coach.
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But former Liverpool and Aston Villa striker Dean Saunders has accused him of ‘throwing his toys out of the pram’.
‘He’s walking on thin ice, Garnacho, he is,’ he said on talkSPORT Breakfast.
‘If you look at the league table, there’s not a player at Man United who can complain to the manager for not playing or getting brought off, look where they are in the league.
‘And if he’s, from what I’ve heard, he’s arguing with the manager, he’s arguing with the tactics and he’s throwing his toys out the pram when he gets brought off.
‘He’s going to ruin his career if he carries on.’
Garnacho started the match against Ipswich brightly and was unfortunate to be hooked with the red card prompting a slight reshuffle from Amorim.
Explaining his decision, the United boss said: ‘The thinking was that we play more in the 5-3-1. I know that is a risk because you are taking the only player now that has one-vs-one pace.
‘But I felt the team was okay in controlling the game and then we make the substitution.
‘We had to choose someone to go out and we had to think about set-pieces also so that was my choice.’
Garnacho has made 40 appearances this season, scoring eight goals and laying on six assists.
Goals from Matthijs de Ligt and Harry Maguire saw United get over the line against Kieran McKenna’s side as they secured just their second home win in the league this year.
It lifts them up to 14th in the league, now 16 points clear of the bottom three.
United are back in action on Sunday when they host Fulham in the FA Cup fifth round.