Alvaro Fernandez names three former Man United stars who ‘pushed’ him to succeed

Alvaro Fernandes has highlighted three former Manchester United players as he compared the academy at Carrington to Real Madrid.

Fernandez, 21, moved to Old Trafford in the summer of 2020 and is currently on loan at La Liga side Granada.

The United left-back has impressed during his time in the academy teams at the club, winning the Reserve Team Player of the Year award in the 2021/22 season.

He joined from Real Madrid and cites the differences within the academy setups as one of the main reasons behind his decision.

“Manchester (United) is completely different (to Real Madrid),” he explained to The Athletic. “You lived with the professionals — you’d go down for breakfast, and you’d bump into (Marcus) Rashford. I was lucky enough to start very well in England.

“They gave me the best youth player award (reserve team player of the year, in May 2022) and supported me a lot.”

Fernandez, an under-21s Spain international, was fortunate to have a solid group of Spanish speakers within the United side when he began training with the first team.

“There was (fellow Spanish speaker Juan) Mata, (Edinson) Cavani, (David) de Gea, who pushed me, encouraged me and looked after me a lot,” he added. “I have no complaints about that. At Madrid, maybe it’s more separate.”

Now, however, all three of those experienced players have left Old Trafford. Whilst Fernandez has been learning his English, the likes of Alejandro Garnacho, Facundo Pellistri and Bruno Fernandes are amongst a group of those in the United squad who speak his native tongue.

Fernandez has made ten appearances for Granada so far this season, starting five of those games.