Alejandro Garnacho suffers major blow that sheds new light on Aston Villa struggle

Erik ten Hag is fighting to save his job at Manchester United after a wretched start to the season and a fresh injury blow may force him to be without his top scorer following the international break

Alejandro Garnacho has been forced to withdraw from Argentina's October internationals squad with a knee injury - after confirming he played through the pain against Aston Villa.

Garnacho has been a key player for Erik ten Hag this season, scoring four goals and notching three assists in 11 appearances across all competitions so far this term. That has put him alongside Marcus Rashford in the club's scoring ranks for the current campaign.

His performances have earned him a regular call-up to the Argentina national team. And he was one of 27 players named by Lionel Scaloni to face Venezuela and Bolivia in the upcoming international break.

But he will instead spend the break back in Manchester after being forced to withdraw from the squad. Garnacho confirmed the reports about his withdrawal in a message on Instagram in which he admitted to suffering from discomfort in the last two games.

“I’ve had knee problems for the last two games and I’m not able to be with the national team, but I hope to recover quickly and be with them for the next matches,” Garnacho posted on his Instagram story.

Scaloni has opted to bring in Facundo Buonanotte as Garnacho's replacement. In a statement, the Argentine Football Association pinpointed a problem in Garnacho's left knee as the reason for his withdrawal.

The statement read: "Alejandro Garnacho was left out of the squad due to discomfort in his left knee. Facundo Buonanotte was called up for the October international fixtures."

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The 20-year-old was able to play all 90 minutes of Sunday's bore draw with Aston Villa but had little impact at Villa Park. He has been capped seven times by Argentina and last played in their 3-0 win over Chile in September.

Scaloni will not be too concerned with Garnacho's sudden exit. He will still have a wealth of attacking options for October’s matches, including Lionel Messi, Lautaro Martinez, Paulo Dybala and Julian Alvarez.

Garnacho's withdrawal from the Argentina squad comes just under a month after Ten Hag dropped him for a trip to Southampton. That decision came after he winger liked an Instagram post containing criticism of the United boss.

During the September international break, Garnacho was spotted liking a post which contained quotes from from ex-team-mate Cristiano Ronaldo, who slammed Ten Hag for supposedly sending the wrong message when it comes to United's chances of winning major titles.

United sources insist that Ten Hag's decision was tactical and not a direct result of Garnacho liking the post. The Red Devils manager did bring the Argentine international on late in the second half, though, and he netted the third goal to wrap up United's 3-0 win.

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