Ryan Giggs tells Alejandro Garnacho to follow golden Manchester United rule

Alejandro Garnacho has struggled for form as a Manchester United regular this season, with club legend Ryan Giggs issuing some advice to the under-pressure winger

Ryan Giggs has urged Manchester United's young winger Alejandro Garnacho to improve his relationship with his fellow attackers and work on his consistency.

Garnacho hasn't met expectations this season, scoring just five goals and providing one assist in 32 Premier League appearances in the 2024/25 campaign. Compared to his previous two standout seasons, where he reached double figures for goals each time - 15 in 2022/23 and 10 in 2023/24 - the Argentinian has found scoring difficult under new manager Ruben Amorim.

Despite assisting in United's thrilling victory over Lyon in the recent Europa League quarter-finals, fans may be disappointed with his inconsistent performance on the wing.

However, the 20-year-old has now received some invaluable advice from a former Red Devils icon, with Giggs encouraging him to stay focused and keep pushing.

Giggs gave his opinion while appearing on the Rio Ferdinand Presents podcast. Host Ferdinand, who won numerous trophies alongside Giggs at Man United, asked his former team-mate for his thoughts on Garnacho's performance this season.

Giggs said: "He's an exciting player. He likes to take risks. He likes to take players on. As soon as he gets the ball, his first thought is, right, tap the full back, which I like. As wingers, young players, you have dips.

"But also, what targets does he have in front of him? You know, I used to have a 10 drop. I used to have a Teddy (Sheringham) and Eric (Cantona) dropping off, a (Dwight) Yorkie or a (Andy) Coley running behind, a Rudd (van Nistelrooy) running in behind. I always had options.

"So I had a pass in front and a pass in behind. He probably doesn't have them options because there's only one centre-forward. So then you have to build the relationship quickly. Because I see Hoijlund running near post, pulling up, back post sometimes."

When Ferdinand mentioned Garnacho's issue with maintaining consistent performances, Giggs spread the responsibility to the whole attacking line-up: "There's no consistency from him and from the wide men. So he might be running front post because last time Garnacho played it to the front post. So it's about building relationships," he continued.

"He's now playing a different position where it's a lot back to goal. I feel his strength is facing the defenders up and taking them on. But he's a young player and he's still learning. And yeah, of course, like I did when I was younger, I had to improve on my goals, improve on my final ball. You have to do that as wingers and you'll learn that from experience."

To boost his displays, Giggs has urged Garnacho to develop the ability to make quick decisions and understand his fellow attackers' preferences when providing them with scoring opportunities.

He added: "Well, when you're in the crossing positions, what's your mindset? So if you're on the edge of the box, what's your options? Is it a one-two? Is it a cut back, a little cross into the back post? I knew where everyone was running. So I knew Rudd was in the middle of the goal.

"He wouldn't run near post. He wouldn't pull it out. He was in the middle of the goal for a tap in. I knew that Scholesy would be arriving late. I knew that Eric Cantona liked back post the majority of the time. So I already knew where I was putting the ball.

"You know, you're running up full speed, your head's down, you've got a defender up, but you already know what you're doing. You can't go, right, what am I going to do now? Oh, right, the ball's taken off you. So you've already got an idea where you are on the pitch, what you're going to do with it."

Listen to the full Rio Meets Ryan Giggs interview on Apple Podcasts and Spotify from 6am, Friday 25th April.