Chelsea reportedly feel Aston Villa are restricting the minutes of Alejandro Garnacho so they do not have to activate his obligation to buy clause. The Blues are growing frustrated by the situation and feel they stand to lose out if the winger does not make enough appearances at Villa Park.
Garnacho has played only 42 minutes in four substitute appearances since arriving at Unai Emery’s side and was also left out of Villa’s squad for their 1-0 win over Newcastle United at the weekend. The deal for the 22-year-old Argentine was a loan with an obligation-to-buy clause that was due to trigger once he made a set number of appearances.
The proposed deal for Garnacho was complicated due to Chelsea signing Morgan Rogers from Villa for a reported £117m. The deal could have been treated as a player-exchange transaction because of Rogers’ move, which would have limited the profit Villa could record on Rogers.
The Blues were concerned about the agreement as a similar situation had occurred involving Harvey Elliott. The Liverpool midfielder, now on loan at Valencia, joined Villa on loan last term with an obligation-to-buy clause that was due to kick in after he made 10 Premier League appearances. But Elliott only made five league appearances (nine in all competitions) before returning to his parent club at the end of the season.
The potential loss of up to €50m is a problem for the Blues, as they bought Garnacho from Manchester United for €46.2m in the summer of 2025. Chelsea’s hierarchy expected to sell the Argentina international, and it would be a huge loss if they couldn’t complete the deal.
Garnacho would return to Stamford Bridge next summer as a player Xabi Alonso doesn’t want, and the sale would be delayed until the next campaign, with the Blues having to find another club to take him on.
Unai Emery Urges Alejandro Garnacho to Be Patient at Aston Villa
Unai Emery has spoken about Alejandro Garnacho’s lack of game time at Aston Villa, claiming the winger needs to continue his efforts to force his way into the starting line-up. The Villa boss feels Garnacho has struggled to adapt to life at Villa as he was forced to miss a large portion of pre-season with a facial injury.
Emery’s comments came after Garnacho was an unused substitute for a third consecutive game in Villa’s 3-1 win at Coventry City in the Carabao Cup in September. Academy graduate George Hemmings has been one of the wide men ahead of Garnacho in Emery’s hierarchy.
In his post-match press conference following the victory at Coventry, Emery stated:
“[He has to] continue working. 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. Garnacho is a little bit behind because of some circumstances we had in pre-season. It is time to be patient for the time he needs.”
Garnacho has made just one more substitute appearance since, and the Blues are growing impatient with his situation.