Jose Mourinho promoted him, Michael Carrick raved about him and Bruno Fernandes championed him. But James Garner will be lining up against Man United on Sunday.

Figures at Manchester United were still rewriting their epitaph to James Garner as recently as the summer.

Likening the outgoing Anthony Elanga’s situation to Garner’s, a United source said they sought feedback from staff at Nottingham Forest, where Garner had thrived on loan. The word was Garner would not pass muster back at United.

That seemed dubious. Forest had enquired about Garner’s availability at the start of the summer in 2022 yet received little encouragement from United. So Forest stockpiled their midfield with other targets.

Garner was one of a handful of sellable assets United had by virtue of his season-long loan by the Trent. He was instrumental in Forest’s promotion back to the Premier League for the first time in 23 years and he had not been tarred with the same brush as the miscreants who toiled under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Ralf Rangnick.

It was still a jolt when football director John Murtough telephoned intermediaries to inform them Garner was available for transfer in mid-August. Third parties were informed before Garner. Tawdry treatment of an academy product.

Tottenham and Southampton showed interest before Everton intervened. Garner’s agent, Steven Becks, played in the same Everton youth team as Wayne Rooney and a deal was concluded on deadline day.

United and Everton briefed different fees, ranging from £12million to £15m. Whatever the figure, Garner has been a steal. A leading midfielder in England’s joint-fourth most successful domestic club, United-bred and a European Championship winner with England Under-21s in the summer, Garner’s valuation will now be at least double £15m.

He has started in all but one of their 14 games this season and played in every minute of those starts. “The fans have taken to him from the word go,” a staff member at Everton said.

Garner played at right wing-back in Everton’s decisive victory over Bournemouth on the final day of last season and received glowing feedback for a disciplined performance with the club’s 69-year stint in the top flight in jeopardy.

That ability to switch roles ad hoc was cultivated at United, where Garner performed imperiously at centre back in the uplifting FA Youth Cup triumph over holders Chelsea in December 2018. After a stint on the flank for Sean Dyche at the start of this season, Garner has eased back into his favoured central midfield role.

Garner celebrates his first Premier League goal against Bournemouth

“He’s been very good this season, despite Dyche playing him on the wing in the first four or five games,” an Everton season-ticket holder said. “He’s good on the ball and can pick a pass.”

The former United Under-23 coach Neil Wood once wondered whether Garner was too nestled in his comfort zone. As a 19-year-old, he had a tepid conversation with Huddersfield manager Carlos Corberán in the tunnel of the John Smiths Stadium after a friendly in August 2020, shortly before joining Watford on a season-long loan. That ended early as the managerial revolving door continued in motion at Vicarage Road.

Garner is not as reticent now, having once been so monosyllabic he dodged the opportunity to speak when regarded as one of the more ‘senior’ teenagers at United. He suggested he conduct an interview to coincide with his season-long loan renewal with Forest to assure supporters he remained committed to making it at United.

Garner turned out to be Frank Lampard’s final signing. He has overcome a lengthy lay-off with a back injury and a change of managers at Everton to establish himself in a team that already has Dyche’s fingerprints all over it.

Garner helped England to U21 Euros glory in the summer

Lampard, whatever his faults in management, hothoused Mason Mount, Reece James, Fikayo Tomori, Billy Gilmour and Harry Wilson at Derby County and Chelsea. A garlanded midfielder during his playing career, Lampard was a shrew choice of manager for Garner.

Garner also fit Everton’s profile as part of a recruitment reboot focused on younger and hungrier players with re-sale value, enforced after the slapdash spending splurge driven by owner Farhad Moshiri.

Dyche has a maxim that maximum effort is the minimum requirement. That is put to the test on gruelling training days where the players are run ragged to increase the players’ fitness levels. “James has absolutely bought into that,” a figure at the club’s training ground, Finch Farm, said. “He has quickly endeared himself to the manager.” Those present for United’s training camp at St Andrews in summer 2021 said Garner was the best performer all week.

“The way he’s performing, I can’t see him moving,” a well-placed source at Everon said. “He’s ahead of Idrissa Gana Gueye on merit, Amadou Onana can have good days and bad days. James is really consistent.”

Garner was back at Old Trafford in April (Image: Tony McArdle/Everton FC via Getty Images.)

Those who have dealt with Garner at Everton say he is not sentimental about United, a club he spent 15 years at. That is understandable after the sudden decision to sell a midfielder who seemed to be aligned with Erik ten Hag’s tenets.

Jose Mourinho was nudged about Garner’s development last year. “He is a player,” Mourinho purred. Mourinho took a 16-year-old Garner on the pre-season tour of the United States in 2018.

Juan Mata mentored Garner, Bruno Fernandes championed him on Twitter, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer dubbed him “a Michael Carrick” and technical director Darren Fletcher was in constant contact during his loan at Forest. The only one who felt Garner’s face did not fit was Ten Hag.

Ten Hag wanted to watch Garner in the flesh before making a definitive decision on his future and a minor injury prevented him from training in Bangkok or playing in Melbourne during the pre-season tour.

Garner started against Rayo Vallecano in United’s final pre-season friendly in July 2022

Garner eventually played 98 minutes in Perth, Oslo and Manchester, his only start coming in a ‘second XI’ against Rayo Vallecano. Garner, a relatively placid character, was booked and had to be calmed down by Ten Hag.

Garner made his Everton debut off the bench against United at Goodison Park and he came on in the defeat at Old Trafford. On Sunday, he will start next to Onana behind Abdoulaye Doucouré in a tricky troika for United to contend with.