As we head towards the month of December and the inevitable festive fixture crush, Manchester United youngster Alejandro Garnacho has arguably already provided the Goal of the Season winner for the 2023/24 Premier League campaign after his incredible overhead kick against Everton.
The 19 year old Argentinian talent connected with Diogo Dalot’s delivery three minutes in to the clash at Goodison Park, and it was certainly a strike to savour.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been in a stadium where I’ve seen an overhead kick that good…and I was there for Wayne Rooney’s against Manchester City.”
Plenty in the wider world of football simply echoed Gary Neville’s initial praise and reaction to the effort, and even Garnacho himself seemed slightly surprised that he had been able to pull it off, and in that style.
“I can’t believe it to be honest. I didn’t see how I scored, I just listened to the crowd and said ‘oh my God’.”
Going back to Neville’s reaction, he described it as a ‘magical’ moment of skill and audacity, and whilst the former right back knew that there would still be an overhead goal, or two, before we near the end of the current campaign, he remained convinced we probably would not see one that good again for a long time indeed. In fact, he thought potentially that Garnacho had now scored the single most impressive goal of his entire career, despite his tender age and time so far in the professional game.
It was not the only eye catching goal of the fixture weekend though, as Crystal Palace winger Michael Olise danced down the right wing, before cutting in and curling a worldie into the far corner in their clash with newly promoted Luton Town, and Olise has his own backers for a potential Goal of the Season winner.
Speaking on Match of the Day, host and former England international striker Gary Lineker believed it would definitely be on the final shortlist.
“It’s got to be up there. It will take some beating.”
He had, however, said that prior to Garnacho’s effort going in, and Olise’s sublime strike did not even feature in their own Goal of the Month competition, in spite of the strong praise it came in for.
Whatever ultimately happens with the various Goal of the Season competition from the differing outlets and broadcasters, Garnacho’s strike will feature somewhere, and it definitely deserves its place in footballs rich history over overhead efforts.