€50m Chelsea deal for ‘amazing player’ in jeopardy

21 Oct 2026 16:00 BST
3 min read

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Chelsea are “losing patience” with Alejandro Garnacho’s situation at Aston Villa and are facing the prospect of having to find him a new club.

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The Argentine was deemed surplus to requirements after just one season at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea had spent all summer 2025 trying to sign Garnacho from Man Utd and eventually secured his signature for €46.2 million.

However, an uninspiring debut campaign in West London, paired with two managerial changes, meant that Garnacho found himself on the outside looking in when Xabi Alonso arrived. The Basque made no secret of the fact that the 22-year-old did not suit his style

This allowed Unai Emery to finally get his hands on Garnacho. The Aston Villa manager had long admired the winger and brought him in on an initial loan deal. Because of Chelsea’s signing of Morgan Rogers, UEFA rules effectively prevented the Birmingham club from signing Garnacho outright.

A permanent deal would have been likely categorised as a trade for Rogers, which would have restricted Villa’s profit. To get around this problem, the two clubs agreed a loan deal with a conditional purchase obligation.

Garnacho could return to Chelsea

Fast forward a few months and little seems to remain of Emery’s admiration for Garnacho. The Argentine has barely featured at Aston Villa, racking up just 42 minutes of action across four appearances.

It is not clear when exactly Garnacho’s loan would become permanent, but similar to Villa’s deal for Harvey Elliott last season, it seems that the club are keen to avoid this scenario at all costs. The Liverpool loanee had to make 10 appearances to join Villa permanently – he returned to his parent club having played nine games.

According to Football Insider, Chelsea believe that Villa are playing a similar game with Garnacho and are “losing patience” with the situation. Not selling the winger is a “major financial risk” for the Blues, who fully planned for the €50m Villa would have to pay.

They now face the prospect of an unwanted player returning to West London, meaning that they would have to find him a new club next year. This would be an unnecessary and completely avoidable distraction from the club’s more important transfer business.

Of course, the situation also can’t be easy for Garnacho. His promising career has gone off the rails in recent years, basically ever since Erik ten Hag was sacked by Man Utd.

The Dutchman managed to get a tune out of the attacker at Old Trafford, but those days are a distant memory now. Speaking in an extensive interview with The Athletic, Ten Hag said that Garnacho “needs the love” from his coach in order to be at his best.

“He’s a character, you have to manage him, but I had a strong connection with him,” the former Red Devils boss explained. “But it’s also up to him, of course, but he needs a coach, a particular coach, who will give him trust, who will give him love. He needs the love, definitely.

“But he’s an amazing player. What’s so special about him is he can run all day, high volume at really high speed, all game, back and forward. Sometimes his head is not on defending.

“So mentally, his mindset, you have to make sure he is focused and disciplined and does the job every transition, but he’s capable of doing it and attacking-wise he can go forward and do incredible things, making dribbles, finishing. He can do the final pass, but sometimes he’s a little bit selfish.”