Alejandro Garnacho Is Watching His Career Head in Previously Unthinkable Direction

The international break provides players across the globe with the chance to switch off from life at club level. Alejandro Garnacho cannot afford to take that opportunity.

Having not represented his country since 2024, Garnacho’s career has entered a freefall. The 22-year-old, once hailed as one of the world’s best youngsters, is now pushed to the shadows of his third club in as many seasons, staring at the biggest crossroads of his entire career.

How did we get here? And how can Garnacho recapture the magic of years gone by?

Man Utd Downfall

Alejandro Garnacho — Life at Man Utd rapidly went south for Garnacho. | Ryan Pierse/Getty Images

Manchester United signed Garnacho as a high-potential youngster and did not have to wait long for glimpses of superstardom to emerge. At 17 years old, he made his senior debut in April 2022, and he was already one of the team’s best players by the time the 2023–24 season arrived. He finished sixth in the race for the Kopa Trophy that year, with the world seemingly at his feet.

Nobody could have predicted what the next few seasons would have in store for Garnacho.

In December 2024, Garnacho was, alongside Marcus Rashford, left out of United’s matchday squad for a derby against Manchester City by manager Ruben Amorim, who insisted he was not happy with the pair’s performances in training. A near-immediate return to the squad led to particular praise for Garnacho, whose maturity had seemingly seen him respond well to the challenge from his manager, particularly as Rashford never played under Amorim again.

The positivity quickly faded, however, as Garnacho struggled to find a place in Amorim’s winger-less system. Everything came to a head after the 2025 Europa League final, when the young winger openly questioned why he had not been selected to start. Accused of developing too much of an ego at such a young age, Amorim informed Garnacho to find a new club.

Chelsea Struggles

Chelsea gleefully took the chance to land Garnacho’s signature. The Blues had been toying with an offer in January 2025, shortly after he was first dropped by Amorim, and ultimately parted with $54 million (£40 million) to get a deal done six months later.

The deal was led primarily by Chelsea’s recruitment team, rather than manager Enzo Maresca. Reports revealed the boss did not even speak with Garnacho before his arrival, and so it came as little surprise to see him struggle for regular starts.

To Garnacho’s credit, his time at Chelsea featured no questions about his attitude or work rate. Fans were happy to praise the Argentina international for his effort, but the limited output in front of goal became somewhat of an elephant in the room.

He scored eight goals across all competitions for Chelsea, only one of which came in the Premier League, before the decision was made to entertain offers for his services after just one season.

Slow Start to Aston Villa Loan

With two of Europe’s elite admitting his services were no longer required, Garnacho needed to take a step down to a platform upon which he could prove his worth.

Having seen Rashford succeed on the same path, Garnacho agreed to join Aston Villa on a season-long loan that includes an obligation to buy under certain conditions that, per reports, are not particularly hard to achieve.

Yet, even that is not going to plan for Garnacho. Unai Emery has found just 31 minutes for Garnacho since the season began, with the latest of those coming on Sept. 5. He went unused on the bench in a Carabao Cup win over Coventry City, after which Emery admitted Garnacho is “behind” plenty of other names in the pecking order. He stayed on the bench for the win over Tottenham Hotspur, too.

“Work, work, train, work,” was the advice from Emery, who admitted other players are “giving us things I want.” The assumption, therefore, is that Garnacho is not.

Rashford turned a Villa loan into 12 successful months with Barcelona and a route back to the United first team, but the idea of Garnacho doing anything similar seems almost fanciful at this point. Many expected him to be battling for the Ballon d’Or by now, but Garnacho is simply fighting to prove he belongs.

Considering we saw Villa intentionally tank Harvey Elliott’s loan from Liverpool last season to avoid triggering a permanent purchase clause—he appeared just once in the Premier League after Sept. 28—Garnacho will be well aware he is one wrong move away from disaster.

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