Alejandro Garnacho (out) | Chelsea make enquiries

So, we’re really about to sell Garnacho eh? A young attacker who’s already given us some massive moments. Scoring in an FA Cup final, winning a Puskás Award. This kid has shown he’s got it, even if this season’s been a bit underwhelming. But we’re ready to let him go for just €50 million? That’s it?

And then what? Use that money to bring in a young left-back? It’s ridiculous. We’re talking about one of the very few players in the squad who’s got goals in him, someone who’s already delivered when it matters. And we’re just going to toss him aside like he’s nothing? It’s so frustrating, so short-sighted. Honestly, it’s the kind of decision that makes you wonder what’s really going on at the club.

What’s even worse is knowing how this will play out. Watch when we finally decide to go for an attacker, how much are we going to pay then? I’ll bet we get fleeced for and we won’t land anyone for just €50 million. It’s like we’re determined to keep shooting ourselves in the foot.
 
From what I understand, selling him for £50m would open up something like £250m worth of signings on 5 year contracts in terms of PSR. For a player who doesn't fit the system and is not yet a reliable goalscorer, that sounds like a good idea to me.

Always sad to see talented homegrown players leave mind you. But I think it makes sense.
 
horsechoker said:
"Hello my name is Miroma and I come from some place far away"

9hhvpu.jpg
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I like the way Miroma thinks!
 
nazanto said:
So, we’re really about to sell Garnacho eh? A young attacker who’s already given us some massive moments. Scoring in an FA Cup final, winning a Puskás Award. This kid has shown he’s got it, even if this season’s been a bit underwhelming. But we’re ready to let him go for just €50 million? That’s it?

And then what? Use that money to bring in a young left-back? It’s ridiculous. We’re talking about one of the very few players in the squad who’s got goals in him, someone who’s already delivered when it matters. And we’re just going to toss him aside like he’s nothing? It’s so frustrating, so short-sighted. Honestly, it’s the kind of decision that makes you wonder what’s really going on at the club.

What’s even worse is knowing how this will play out. Watch when we finally decide to go for an attacker, how much are we going to pay then? I’ll bet we get fleeced for and we won’t land anyone for just €50 million. It’s like we’re determined to keep shooting ourselves in the foot.
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Stop being so dramatic. Selling a player for 50+ million is not the same as tossing him aside like he’s nothing.
 
OleGunnar20 said:
From what I understand, selling him for £50m would open up something like £250m worth of signings on 5 year contracts in terms of PSR. For a player who doesn't fit the system and is not yet a reliable goalscorer, that sounds like a good idea to me.

Always sad to see talented homegrown players leave mind you. But I think it makes sense.
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We're not going to be spending anywhere near that much on transfers - we're extremely financially constrained.
 
Honestly think it would be one of our worst decisions as a club since fergie left. Talent wise I think he’s up there with the best in his age group and with the right attitude could really be a special player. Selling him isn’t going to magically mean we’re flush with cash to even buy an alternative. It will probably mean we end up buying 2-3 steady players for 15-20m that are used to playing 352. Unlikely to make the impact to get us anywhere but mid table.
 
Big Ben Foster said:
We're not going to be spending anywhere near that much on transfers - we're extremely financially constrained.
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But it does open up the possibility of spending some money, much of the financial constraints are related to PSR, I doubt the coffers are totally empty, we are due 20 million odd from Chelsea in a few months, assuming we don't splash in January that's 80 million, add in some academy players that might be sold for smallish sums and any former players that have sell-on clauses that get sold and we might reach 100 million, whether we can but the right players is a different kettle of fish though
 
Bobski said:
And if Amorin flames out in 6 months, which is not entirely unlikely, and we have binned off Garnacho and Mainoo to chase the Ruben dream Utd are going to look even dumber that they already do.
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I will admit that's a worry to say the least, just wish we could raise money without selling him so then would get the best of both worlds
 
Redo91 said:
He doesn’t fit our current system. The vast majority of teams play with wingers. What happens in 12-18 months time if Amorim is gone and we get a manager in who’s plays with wingers and we have to go out and buy a bunch of them?
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We have Amad, currently on an upward trajectory, who has always been highly rated and who can play RW. Bruno or whoever is the left #10 will play centrally. We will always have tons of young attackers looking to make it from the academy for one and whoever we also sign for depth for the two 10 and striker roles could do a job.

People are losing sight over the root cause of our issues. Our players are lacking technically and physically so they are limited in the styles they can be used in. Take any of the top 5 sides and they wouldn't struggle with the transition to 3-4-3 like we are doing. We'd struggle to do anything else other than Mourinho/Ole tactics of 2019.
 
chris123 said:
Read any forum, or reddit posts, most fans of other clubs thing we'd have done very well out of this to get 50M for him. That obviously doesn't mean anything on his own, but I do think we're probably inflating his value based on his age.
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Not just age. United fans are a bit desperate when it comes to having something remotely "world class", I guess, a bit might be an ego thing or something. Also a fair few of them only watch United games and therefor don't have references to evaluate ability or talent. Nothing wrong with it of course but that leads to some evaluations getting fairly wild. It seems like Garnacho is a bit of the same. I think he is talented and I have no doubt, that he will end up a very good player but right now, I struggle to see much that would have him in the upper echelons. He is gritty and willing, seems to have good work ethic and useful confidence (probably better to have a little too much than a too little). His dribbling and shooting is good but not extraordinarily good (yet), he isn't crazy rapid or crazy strong. He doesn't come across as overly intelligent on the pitch. By all means, this sounds as if he isn't a very promising talent but the potential is a little overstated I guess. I think, something between 55 and 65 would be fair (in my personal opinion) because he is a goal getter and there is a good chance that in the right environment he might flourish. But he needs game time to get there and I don't see a place in our squad to get that level of game time. I also wouldn't call him a winger, he isn't a winger just like Rashford isn't a winger - I know it is a wording thing but to me those players are wing forwards. Both of them don't seem to be too interested in creating anything which is part of the reason our attack look so onedimensional since years as we don't get the balance right and weren't even able to field attacking fullbacks to mitigate the issue.

We are close to rock bottom (hopefully), this is the time for hard decisions unfortunately and if selling one player with potential but questionable fit enables us to bring in 2 or 3 players that do fit, then it is the right thing to do. It isn't the time to stockpile options and benchplayers. The starting eleven is burning and we have to get it right.
 
Alvaro Maestre said:
We sold ballon d'or Ronaldo, this is nothing compared to it.
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We didn't sell him cheap, it was a world record fee and he was leaving anyway, If United refused to sell him he would have walked away for nothing at some point and probably been like the second version we got for most of that time
 
Selling him is a mistake, he will go on to become a great player if he moves to Chelsea or Napoli. You better hope he doesn't sign for Chelsea.
 
AneRu said:
We have Amad, currently on an upward trajectory, who has always been highly rated and who can play RW. Bruno or whoever is the left #10 will play centrally. We will always have tons of young attackers looking to make it from the academy for one and whoever we also sign for depth for the two 10 and striker roles could do a job.

People are losing sight over the root cause of our issues. Our players are lacking technically and physically so they are limited in the styles they can be used in. Take any of the top 5 sides and they wouldn't struggle with the transition to 3-4-3 like we are doing. We'd struggle to do anything else other than Mourinho/Ole tactics of 2019.
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We have had 1 (or 2 if you count Elanga) in the last 10 years make it to the first team? Garnacho was buy from Athletico.
 
JoeyJoJoJrShabadoo said:
Selling the top performing young winger in the world for what we paid for Mason Mount will absolutely kill me.
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He’s not even the top performing young winger in our team. Right now he’s struggling to get a start for a bottom of the table club. If he was the top performing winger in the world he would be the first name on the team sheet, we wouldn’t be thinking about selling him, and the best clubs in the world would be after him. They’re not though are they.
 
A winger who isn't particularly fast or strong, not very good at dribbling, not a good passer, not a great crosser, strikes the ball okay.

I'm baffled that people are getting their knickers in a twist.
 
Why do Chelsea need him? They have Felix, Neto, Sancho, Mudryk, Madueke, Nkunku, Palmer, and Jackson. 8 players for the front four and I’m probably missing some promising youngsters which they always seem to have.

We have Garnacho, Bruno, Amad, Hojlund, Zirkzee, and Mount. 6 attackers for 3 positions. Mount barely counts, Bruno has to play in midfield frequently where we lack depth, and we’re about to sell Garnacho. Antony is gone and Rashford is out of the picture.

We should be adding to our attack, not subtracting. If we do sell Garnacho, we need to replace him immediately with a starter (Cunha, Osimhen, etc…) and a cheap option for the bench (e.g. Jonathan David).

We have a threadbare squad after spending fortunes. Miserable.
 
bosnian_red said:
Statistically he's among the most productive u21 players in world football after Yamal. He's up there whether you like him or not, and is rated as such in world football (as proven by his rankings in that Golden Boy award).
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Everyone loves pointing to his statistics without wondering how he got them.

Is he an elite creator? No, pretty terrible one really. Poor decision making consistently to go along with very little take on threat and some historically bad passing abilities based on metrics

Is he an elite finisher or goal scorer? Not really. Could develop this part further as he seems to have an excellent sense in how to position himself and move around the box to find shooting chances, but his ball striking is just spotty right now and not really unique in any way (compared to a young Rashford having excellent power in his strikes or Greenwood being fecking lethal and two footed as a finish)

So he surely must be a physical marvel right? Well not really. He’s got pretty average winger pace and explosiveness and middling balance/strength on and off the ball. Really good dogged work rate and doesn’t shy away from moments which has helped amplify his talents but the people acting like we are selling Santos Neymar here need to get a grip.
NZT-One said:
Not just age. United fans are a bit desperate when it comes to having something remotely "world class", I guess, a bit might be an ego thing or something. Also a fair few of them only watch United games and therefor don't have references to evaluate ability or talent. Nothing wrong with it of course but that leads to some evaluations getting fairly wild. It seems like Garnacho is a bit of the same. I think he is talented and I have no doubt, that he will end up a very good player but right now, I struggle to see much that would have him in the upper echelons. He is gritty and willing, seems to have good work ethic and useful confidence (probably better to have a little too much than a too little). His dribbling and shooting is good but not extraordinarily good (yet), he isn't crazy rapid or crazy strong. He doesn't come across as overly intelligent on the pitch. By all means, this sounds as if he isn't a very promising talent but the potential is a little overstated I guess. I think, something between 55 and 65 would be fair (in my personal opinion) because he is a goal getter and there is a good chance that in the right environment he might flourish. But he needs game time to get there and I don't see a place in our squad to get that level of game time. I also wouldn't call him a winger, he isn't a winger just like Rashford isn't a winger - I know it is a wording thing but to me those players are wing forwards. Both of them don't seem to be too interested in creating anything which is part of the reason our attack look so onedimensional since years as we don't get the balance right and weren't even able to field attacking fullbacks to mitigate the issue.

We are close to rock bottom (hopefully), this is the time for hard decisions unfortunately and if selling one player with potential but questionable fit enables us to bring in 2 or 3 players that do fit, then it is the right thing to do. It isn't the time to stockpile options and benchplayers. The starting eleven is burning and we have to get it right.
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Yeah pretty much agree with all of this. Think so many are acting like it’s the end of the world mainly because of the academy connection and lack of experience ever selling any notable players while their young, but I ultimately think it’s the right choice. We can’t afford to NOT refresh the squad and he’s one of the few that has the combination of meh fit and good market value to help us do so. If fans want to get mad at anyone make it be the old regime and Ten Hag, because that 300m spent on dross that can’t even hardly play is what’s put us where we are now
 
Valencia Shin Crosses said:
Everyone loves pointing to his statistics without wondering how he got them.

Is he an elite creator? No, pretty terrible one really. Poor decision making consistently to go along with very little take on threat and some historically bad passing abilities based on metrics

Is he an elite finisher or goal scorer? Not really. Could develop this part further as he seems to have an excellent sense in how to position himself and move around the box to find shooting chances, but his ball striking is just spotty right now and not really unique in any way (compared to a young Rashford having excellent power in his strikes or Greenwood being fecking lethal and two footed as a finish)

So he surely must be a physical marvel right? Well not really. He’s got pretty average winger pace and explosiveness and middling balance/strength on and off the ball. Really good dogged work rate and doesn’t shy away from moments which has helped amplify his talents but the people acting like we are selling Santos Neymar here need to get a grip.


Yeah pretty much agree with all of this. Think so many are acting like it’s the end of the world mainly because of the academy connection and lack of experience ever selling any notable players while their young, but I ultimately think it’s the right choice. We can’t afford to NOT refresh the squad and he’s one of the few that has the combination of meh fit and good market value to help us do so. If fans want to get mad at anyone make it be the old regime and Ten Hag, because that 300m spent on dross that can’t even hardly play is what’s put us where we are now
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His elite traits are his off the ball movement, his ability to get shots off, his progressive carrying and bringing the ball into danger areas, and in general his productivity. Those are statistically the traits that he is elite at, as a u21 player and the caveats that come with that. He easily has it in him to be a 20 goal and 20 assist a season winger.

He's a 20 year old winger. Of course he's going to be inconsistent. But you don't dump off a talent like that if you are a top club when you are starved of attacking talents.
 
OleGunnar20 said:
From what I understand, selling him for £50m would open up something like £250m worth of signings on 5 year contracts in terms of PSR. For a player who doesn't fit the system and is not yet a reliable goalscorer, that sounds like a good idea to me.

Always sad to see talented homegrown players leave mind you. But I think it makes sense.
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No, that's not how it works. Selling Garnacho for £50M would free up £50M in space on this year's books. You're right that £250M in inbound transfers could be amortized across five year contract, but the problem is selling Garnacho doesn't create £50M extra room for the next five seasons! It only does in year 1.

This is what all the people hawking the "youth academy products are pure profit" line are missing. It really doesn't matter who you sell.

Take Holjund for example. If we sold him for £50M, we'd have less room than Garnacho for 24-25 because Holjund still has his previous transfer amortization from buying him. But the sale would create additional room in 25-26, and 26-27, because the previous amortization would be gone in those seasons. Overall, selling Holjund for £50M would create £50M in space, just like Garnacho. That £50M would just be spread out over four windows (this Jan, summer 2025, Jan 2026, summer 2026) instead of one.

Every pound counts the same for PSR purposes. You don't get extra profit for homegrown players, that's a myth. You just get access to spend the money earlier. We shouldn't be thinking on one season timelines though, and hence there is no particular advantage to selling Garnacho over other players.
 
bosnian_red said:
Statistically he's among the most productive u21 players in world football after Yamal. He's up there whether you like him or not, and is rated as such in world football (as proven by his rankings in that Golden Boy award).
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For the record, like:
https://www.transfermarkt.com/score...chtung=&spielerposition_id=&filter=0&yt0=Show

(You can play around with the criteria a great deal, or add cup competetions, which make Garnacho look much better. I find this one the most interesting, though.

Plenty of fairly high-performing twenty-two year olds, too.)
 
Can't wait for the sale to go through simply so the fanbase can move beyond the hysterics. Utterly exhausting the sound and fury surrounding a player as limited as he is. We're in 13th place. On the back of an 8th place finish last season. We haven't got the cash to spend. We do not have the luxury of waiting around a few more years in the hopes that he comes good. We've been crying out for a new organizational structure with "proper football men" in place to turn the club around and now people can't stomach the steps the new leadership has been essentially forced to take.
 
Querulous Megapode said:
For the record, like:
https://www.transfermarkt.com/score...chtung=&spielerposition_id=&filter=0&yt0=Show

(You can play around with the criteria a great deal, or add cup competetions, which make Garnacho look much better. I find this one the most interesting, though.

Plenty of fairly high-performing twenty-two year olds, too.)
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I'm looking at top 5 leagues and cups, and UNDER 21 (so 20 and below).
https://www.transfermarkt.com/score...chtung=&spielerposition_id=&filter=0&yt0=Show

You can also look at his metrics, while being a 19/20 year old and playing in a garbage disaster team, showing his elite traits:

- 98th percentile in total shots
- 87th percentile in non pen xG
- 92nd percentile in progressive carries
- 95th percentile for carries into the box
- 87th percentile in progressive passes received
- 97th percentile in penalty area touches


He's 20. He's not a complete player. But he has elite traits, and players as they age tend to round out the weaker parts of their game while refining their elite traits. Garnachos profile lends itself to a player who is going to get 20+ goals per season as a winger and a big danger man.
 
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