While the headlines on Sunday were dominated by Marcus Rashford's absence from the Manchester United squad, he was not the only name missing from the team at Manchester City on Sunday.

Alejandro Garnacho joined Rashford on the training pitch Sunday morning knowing full well that he would not be playing at the Etihad Stadium. Now, speculation is rife as to where his future lies beyond this season with many presuming that he does not fit into Ruben Amorim's 3-4-3 system.

With this in mind, MEN Sport has rounded up what we know so far about Garnacho and his future at United ahead of the January transfer window.

READ MORE: Final Rashford and Garnacho decision made

READ MORE: Amorim has shown what he won't do this week after Rashford and Garnacho call

Garnacho dropped for the derby

Of course, the best place to start is with what happened on Sunday. Garnacho was dropped from the squad that faced City alongside Rashford.

Amorim told the media that this decision was merely tactical and that it did not indicate, one way or another, what the future for the Argentine would be. Both Garnacho and Rashford have been handed the opportunity to train again this week in the hope of making the team that faces Tottenham Hotspur in the Carabao Cup on Thursday.

Real Madrid interest

Watching what is happening intensely will likely be Real Madrid. According to Real Madrid Exclusivo in March, their president Florentino Perez had both Erling Haaland and Garnacho on his radar for the future.

Interest in Haaland is likely to have died off considering Kylian Mbappe's arrival but Garnacho could still be a player of interest. The winger idolises both Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi so to follow in both their footsteps, to a certain extent, could be seen as tempting.

Garnacho would 'want' Real Madrid or Barcelona

Speaking on his Football's Greatest Eras podcast with Paul Scholes, Nicky Butt insisted that Garnacho would like to move to La Liga's giants at some stage. "The Premier League is the best league in the world but all the best players always leave and go to Spain, go to Real Madrid or Barcelona," he explained.

"If you look at all the superstars, they never stay in the Premier League. They stay until they need to go to the next level.

"A lot of the players see the next level as being Real Madrid or Barca but we don’t see anywhere bigger than Man United. Our mentality is if you leave Man United you’re going down.

"You don’t get appreciated here like you do at Madrid. You can guarantee Kylian Mbappe will be in the running for the Ballon d’Or next year because he’s at Real Madrid.

"It’s like Garnacho, he’s doing well here now, he’s a young Argentinian boy. If he keeps going, you can imagine him wanting to go to Real Madrid or Barcelona.

"Players become superstars there, not only on the football pitch."

Garnacho's United dream

While Butt may feel that a move to the Galacticos is Garnacho's end goal, the 20-year-old has spoken nothing but positively about his time at Old Trafford to date. "I always used to go to the match," he explained to United's official website earlier this year.

"I loved watching football with my father so to hear an entire stadium singing your name at a club like Manchester United, it doesn't seem like it's real. A club like Manchester United, which is so rich in history, and for me one of the biggest ever and with all the fantastic players they've had over the years, it's a dream come true for me to play here."

If his words can be taken at face value, it may take more than being dropped from the derby squad for Garnacho to give up on his United dream.