Manchester United have been boxed into a corner and have agreed a sale for Alejandro Garnacho.
Alejandro Garnacho is set to leave Manchester United, with a fee agreed with Chelsea. The key details are as follows.
- £40 million
- 10 per cent sell-on clause
The Standard report Garnacho is set to undergo a medical with Chelsea over the next 24 hours.
This is not a deal Manchester United should be proud of, by any measure.
Alejandro Garnacho was worth more than £40 million
With Manchester United, Alejandro Garnacho won the FA Youth Cup in 2022, and the club had very high expectations for him.
He was on track until he had a falling out with current head coach Ruben Amorim. For the first time in his career, Garnacho struggled to deal with adversity and showed himself to be a bad match for the coach’s system.
Due to his conduct, Garnacho was fired from United, and he is taking a huge risk by signing with Chelsea, a team that will view him more as an investment than a football player.
Having just turned 21, he is a player who has accomplished a great deal in his brief stint at Manchester United.
- 26 goals in 144 games
- 23 combined goals/assists in 24/25
- FA Youth Cup winner
- Puskas Award winner
- Scored in FA Cup Final victory
- Argentina international
The cost is where Manchester United is most negatively impacted by the Alejandro Garnacho sale. For a player with his caliber and potential, £40 million is inefficient.
Alejandro Garnacho was valued at £70 million at the start of the summer, but United had to drastically reduce their offer for a player whose contract was slated to expire in 2028.
Players with comparable or inferior skill levels and less or equal potential than Garnacho have been sold for larger prices throughout the summer. And this demonstrates how poorly United handled this transaction.
- Tyler Dibling to Everton: £40 million
- Jamie Bynoe-Gittens to Chelsea: £51 million
- Noni Madueke to Arsenal: £52 million
- Anthony Elanga to Newcastle: £55 million
The 10 per cent sell-on clause should bring a little more to United when Chelsea decide to flip him for a higher fee, but realistically, United are probably looking at an extra £7 million maximum.
United gamble on Amorim looking shaky, hoping for addition by subtraction
Investing in a player who has performed well in underperforming teams is a risk for Manchester United. Garnacho was a raw and flawed player who made things happen, yet he was an exciting talent who won over fans.
United sold Garnacho in order to fully support Ruben Amorim, who could not tolerate the young player undermining him.
The Red Devils are hoping that by cutting Garnacho and other uncommitted guys from the team, it will be addition by subtraction and guarantee that the remaining players are all heading in the correct path.
However, Manchester United’s all-in wager on Ruben Amorim appears to be in jeopardy given the team’s dismal early-season results.
The selling of Garnacho was the appropriate move if Amorim stays for the season and beyond. However, this will backfire if the head coach resigns or is sacked.
Amorim’s successor is likely to use a more conventional 4-3-3 formation and will require a dynamic winger like Alejandro Garnacho, which United will have to shell out a lot of money for. Perhaps a loan move would have been wiser.
Manchester United player sales have been consistently poor
The fact that Manchester United struggles to sell players is not a recent development. The first player to be sold this summer for a fee is Alejandro Garnacho.
Even though the £40 million price tag is less than what United desired, this is still Manchester United’s fourth-highest player sale ever.
- Cristiano Ronaldo: £80 million
- Romelu Lukaku: £73 million
- Angel di Maria: £44 million
At £25.7 million, Garnacho would surpass Scott McTominay as the club’s highest academy sale ever. Although this is “pure profit” with PSR, it shouldn’t be framed as a huge success.
Although United will be happy that they repelled Chelsea’s attempts to pay £25–35 million for Garnacho, their lowballing does not make £40 million a noteworthy acquisition.
Leave a Reply