Chelsea eye £52m Garnacho sale in 2026 as Blues 'close' to £40m 'agreement' with Man Utd

Chelsea are ‘close to agreeing terms’ with Manchester United over a £40m deal for Alejandro Garnacho in what sounds like quite the deal for the Blues.

United wanted £50m for the Argentinian, but as reported by The Telegraph, Ruben Amorim announcing to the world that there was no way back for Garnacho at Old Trafford ‘gave negotiations a different dynamic’. After Garnacho insisted it was ‘Chelsea or nothing’, BlueCo needed only wait out United, and the Red Devils have duly wilted.

We said last week amid reports that United would hold out for their asking price that Chelsea should push for much of that fee to be in add-ons, acting as ‘Pr*ck Protection’ in case Garnacho decided to post a picture of himself wearing the shirt of a rival club on social media or flipped the bird to the club’s fans, but Chelsea will consider £40m a more than fair price even given the potential for Garnacho not to kick on at Stamford Bridge.

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There’s a question as to whether Chelsea even need him given the arrival of Jamie Gittens this summer, with Pedro Neto and Joao Pedro also options for Enzo Maresca on the left, while the return of Mykhaylo Mudryk remains a possibility, albeit an uninspiring one.

But as Chelsea have shown so impressively in this transfer window, with 12 player sales almost entirely cancelling out their eight arrivals to leave them with a net spend of almost zero, including three only signed last summer, they’re a club which sees footballers as commodities to be bought and sold, with a somewhat depressing lack of emotion involved in their decisions. Garnacho is simply a market opportunity they couldn’t miss out on.

‘Chelsea have made a number of checks on his character and approach to the job, although the acceptance is that the proof will be in his performance’, according to The Telegraph. But a cut-price deal means Chelsea won’t need any improvement from Garnacho to make a tidy profit.

The report adds:

‘At the level of the deal as agreed, there is a realistic market for Garnacho beyond Chelsea should it not work out for him in west London. With only a few exceptions, Chelsea’s business is done with potential trading of the player further down the line should a transfer not work out.’

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Assuming he doesn’t upset the apple cart as he’s done under Ruben Amorim, and maybe even if he does but Chelsea don’t make such a big deal about it, the same return as last season of ten goals and ten assists will result in plenty of interest next summer.

Noni Madueke got ten goals and five assists last season before Arsenal bought him for £48m. Anthony Elanga’s six goals and 12 assists to prompt Newcastle into his £52m signing. And Chelsea themselves signed Jamie Gittens from Borussia Dortmund for £48.5m after his 12 goals and five assists. Garnacho got more goal contributions than any of them and arguably has the highest ceiling.

There’s a decent chance Garnacho will thrive at Chelsea – he’s a big talent who’s desperate to play for them – but the price tag offers a very savvy football club a safety net in a transfer which feels as much like a business transaction as a move for a player they’re convinced will make a big difference on the pitch.

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