Manchester United academy chief Nick Cox has recalled signing Alejandro Garnacho from Atletico Madrid four years ago.
Garnacho is being celebrated this week after scoring twice in Sunday's win against West Ham.
Cox told manutd.com: “We said we were looking for a wide player, 16 years old, with certain qualities and a certain type of temperament. So our recruitment team profiled all the wide players of that age across Europe, comparing the talents and trying to identify which talent would be the one who would be the best fit for the way that we play and the best fit for us as a football club. Alejandro would have been at the top of that list.
“Gerardo Guzman, our academy scout in Spain, put Alejandro forward as the best talent available in Spain. Then, the likes of [director of scouting] Steve Brown and [future lead talent scout] Dave Harrison correlated all the best wide players across Europe to confirm that Alejandro was the preferred target, presented to me and the coaches with video footage. We qualified that the scouts had made a really good judgement, so I signed off on Alejandro as the appropriate player to pursue.
“It became my job to present to Alejandro, his agent, his family, why this would be a wonderful opportunity and why he should leave a really good football club to come and join our football club. But, I had to do that from my spare bedroom via video call, using a translator.
“My boys at the time would have been 14 and 10, and I remember vividly that they were arguing with each other while I was trying to sign Alejandro. I still tell my boys now, had that argument rumbled on much longer, then we probably wouldn't have Alejandro Garnacho at Manchester United! [Head of Academy football operations] Steve Higham and myself had to present to them and we must have done okay because he agreed to sign."
