Garnacho Aston Villa
Alejandro Garnacho is enduring a tough start to life at Aston Villa.
If Harvey Elliott happened upon Unai Emery’s comments on Alejandro Garnacho following Aston Villa’s 3-1 win over Coventry City on Wednesday, he will have an ominous warning to offer the former Manchester United and Chelsea star.
Elliott featured for a total of 277 minutes for Villa on loan last season and now finds himself at Valencia, who have already sacked their manager and won their first game of the campaign on Tuesday, in which the 23-year-old played no part. To say his season at Villa put the brakes on his career is the understatement of all understatements.
Emery eventually revealed, after plenty of cloak and dagger and a whole lot of media prodding, that Elliott wasn’t playing as Villa didn’t want to pay the £35m to sign him from Liverpool permanently, triggered if he made ten Premier League appearances.
“The problem we have with Harvey is that he is on loan, and in case he plays matches we must buy him,” Emery said in January. “We decided two months ago that we are not convinced to sign him, spending the money we would need to. This is the only issue.”
But for a long time before that, Emery made no mention of the loan obligation and the reason for him not featuring, instead focusing on his performance level and competition for places, while insisting that he was working hard in training.
“I explained it two days ago in the press conference. He is training well, and he played some matches, but the performances weren’t what we needed,” Emery said last October.
“I am happy with him. He is training good. His commitment is fantastic and he is a good guy. Only a tactical decision.”
Fast forward a year and Emery is making very similar comments on Garnacho, whom Villa also hold a conditional obligation to buy, from Chelsea for £42.5m, based on appearances. It’s not clear how many.
The Argentinian is yet to start a competitive game and has featured for just 32 minutes across three league matches.
Despite close to wholesale changes for their 3-1 Carabao Cup victory over Coventry on Wednesday, Garnacho didn’t play, making it the third game on the trot in which he was an unused substitute. Emery has made 14 substitutions in that time.
“(He has to) continue working,” Emery said when asked in his post-match press conference what Garnacho needs to do to play. “Work, work, train, work. When he can have minutes to play, try and play well. He is progressing, but we have players in front of him now.
“George (Hemmings) is playing fantastic. Alysson is also understanding things well and is giving us things I want. (Ibrahim) Mbaye also responded well. We want a competitive team and players to compete in the style we have.”
Garnacho suffered a facial injury in pre-season which Emery suggests is part of the reason for his lack of game time.
“Garnacho is a little bit behind, because of some circumstances we had in pre-season,” added Emery. “It is time to be patient for the time he needs.”
Or maybe it’s already time to accept that Emery has made his mind up on Garnacho, as he did with Elliott, ahead of a season of career-blighting inertia for a talented but flawed footballer who sought solace in precisely the wrong place.