Instantly iconic. But now, for the wrong reasons. The image of Rasmus Hojlund, Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo, sat on the advertising boards at Old Trafford in celebration in February 2024, appeared to showcase Man Utds bright future.
A year-and-a-half on, Hojlund and Garnacho look set to leave before the end of this transfer window, Mainoo is out of the first-team frame in the Premier League, while the club lurches into another crisis.
How did it come to this? And who is to blame? Comment: If Amorim has lost belief in Man Utd then its overTransfer Centre LIVE! | Man Utd news & transfers🔴Got Sky? Watch now on the Sky Sports app📱Hojlund, then aged 21, had opened the scoring against West Ham.
Alejandro Garnacho, just 19, struck two more. Kobbie Mainoo, the 18-year-old academy starlet, would go on to start a Euros final for England a few months later. Their combined celebration for Garnachos first goal was a cheeky dig back at West Hams Mohammed Kudus, who had marked his goal in the reverse fixture a couple of months earlier in similar fashion.
But it came to stand for more than that. This was a snapshot of hope, an image to believe better times were ahead. Hojlund was in the hot streak of his Man Utd career, in the midst of a run which saw him bag seven goals in six games.
Garnacho recorded his best figures for goal involvements that season, scoring seven in the Premier League – including that Puskás winner at Everton – and the opener in the FA Cup final win over Man City.
Mainoo also netted at Wembley, seemingly confirming his rise would inevitably take him to the top. Sitting down with then-United boss Erik ten Hag in the days after the Old Trafford photo was taken, the Dutchman sounded a warning to the trio.
He spoke of having to match high potentials with high performances. They are the next steps, which have to come, he told Sky Sports. But unquestionably the feeling at that point was optimism. We have some exciting players, said Ten Hag, when he was asked about the celebration.
There was a smile from a manager who is typically more interested in tactical talk than emotions. He could see the importance of the symbolism and also what it meant to Man Utd supporters. After all, this is a club which prides itself on its history of developing and honing young talents.
Yet, fast forward to the final days of this summers transfer window and Hojlund is off to Napoli, Garnacho to Chelsea and Mainoo – that prized, homegrown asset – cant get in the first team, has requested a loan and is expected to be the subject of offers from elsewhere.
Mainoo and Garnacho, in particular, feel victims of circumstance – and Ruben Amorims fixation on 3-4-3. The Englishman isnt trusted in the central midfield two – despite playing a similar role alongside Declan Rice at the Euros.
Casemiro, Bruno Fernandes and Manuel Ugarte are favoured there. He got a runout in the disastrous defeat to Grimsby but it is clear Amorim isnt convinced he has the attributes for the position. A short-lived experiment to play Mainoo off the striker seems over too, with United spending big on Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo.
With Fernandes also deployed in that more advanced role, Mainoo, again, could count him fourth-choice in another position. Garnacho, meanwhile, finds himself a winger for a team which no longer uses them – and a wing-back role never looked like a conversion to maximise his talents.
There have been strops at substitutions and friction off the field but attitude is not a core reason for his exit. For Hojlund, too many misses have ultimately been his undoing, with Benjamin Sesko now signed to lead the line.
However, he could justifiably point to a far from fully-functioning attack around him. And there should also be sympathy for a young forward who was never intended to carry the weight of being Uniteds lead striker, having arrived in a summer when they intended to also go for Harry Kane.
Interestingly, Hojlund had more goals than Kane when he turned 22 but United want to move on. It is not hard to imagine this trio following Marcus Rashford, Scott McTominay and Antony in rejuvenating their careers away from Old Trafford.
They are all talented and will surely enjoy good times again. And that will raise more questions about the environment and culture at United – and perhaps, down the line, regrets. Where, for instance, will Mainoo be in a couple of years time, when Fernandes, Casemiro and Ugarte will likely have departed? Would Amorims successor – whether he arrives sooner or later – not wish to have a winger with Garnachos threat? The pair could be jettisoned in favour of the ideas of a head coach with the worst Man Utd managerial record in the modern era.
It has been the story of United since Sir Alex Fergusons retirement: veering from one direction to another with little thought of the long-term plan. Hojlund, Garnacho and Mainoo looked set to be the future when they were pictured together on that promising day at Old Trafford.
Just 16 months on they are out of the frame.
