Manchester United blocked Alejandro Garnacho’s dream of playing at the Under-20 World Cup - despite a plea from Argentine coach Javier Mascherano to allow the teenager to follow in the footsteps of Lionel Messi.
Garnacho, who is currently recovering from an ankle injury that has sidelined him for almost two months, was desperate to play in the tournament being hosted in his homeland.
But United boss Erik ten Hag refused to give his permission because he didn't want to lose the 18-year-old winger for the final four games of the Premier League season and the FA Cup Final.
Garnacho's disappointment has been eased by a lucrative new five-year contract.
But only after former Liverpool and West Ham midfielder Mascherano made a final appeal to Ten Hag to explain how Messi was also involved in a club versus country row ahead of the 2008 Olympics.
He reminded Ten Hag that Messi returned to Barcelona with a gold medal - and the motivation to help Pep Guardiola win a La Liga, Champions League and Copa del Rey treble in his first season as the club’s coach.
Messi, then aged 21, was initially refused permission to join the Argentine squad going for glory in Beijing after Barca won an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport over a FIFA ruling that made it mandatory for clubs to release all players called-up for the Olympics.
German clubs Schalke and Werder Bremen were also part of the appeal in a bid to stop Rafinha and Diego from joining up with Brazil.
Guardiola wanted the Argentine forward to spearhead his attack in a Champions League qualifier against Wisla Krakow.
Messi was even included in Barcelona’s squad for a series of pre-season friendlies which saw him score against Hibernian at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield and bag a hat-trick against Dundee United at Tannadice.
When Barca then flew onto Florence to face Fiorentina, Messi made one last heartfelt plea to Guardiola to release him from the Olympics and was granted permission to go to Beijing.
Schalke had already allowed Rafinha to travel to China and Werder Bremen followed suit with Diego.
Argentina’s team, coached by World Cup winner Sergio Batista, also included Sergio Aguero, Pablo Zabaleta and Angel Di Maria.
And Mascherano missed the start of Liverpool’s season after being called up as one of three over-age players.
He told Ten Hag that the experience helped turn Messi into the player he became.
Messi scored his country’s opening goal of the campaign in a 2-1 group victory over Ivory Coast and continued to produce brilliant performances as Australia, Serbia, Holland and Brazil were swept aside before Di Maria’s goal against Nigeria clinched gold in the final.
United were under no obligation to release Garnacho.
The 18-year-old is regarded as one of the world’s hottest young talents after making 29 appearances for United this season.
The Madrid-born winger wants to be released after being left out of the Argentina squad that won the World Cup in Qatar and then missing out on his first senior cap in March after being injured against Southampton.
Ten Hag accepted that playing at the Under-20 World Cup would have enhanced Garnacho’s development.
He was also wary about keeping the player at Old Trafford against his will.
But his return to fitness will give Ten Hag options after seeing his options depleted by injuries to Rafael Varane, Lisandro Martinez and Scott McTominay.
United still need points to clinch a top-four place and a return to the Champions League.
And with the Under-20 tournament starting on May 20, it would have meant Garnacho missing games against Wolves, Bournemouth, Chelsea and Fulham.
He would also have been unavailable for the FA Cup Final against bitter rivals City if Argentina reached the quarter-finals.
Garnacho helped United turn around their Premier League meeting against the champions in January, when he came off the bench to set up the winning goal for Marcus Rashford.
