Chelsea have agreed a deal with Manchester United to sign Alejandro Garnacho for £40m.
United will also have a 10 per cent sell-on clause for the Argentina winger, who was part of Ruben Amorim’s “bomb squad” of players who were not training with the first-team squad and were omitted from their pre-season tour of the United States.
Chelsea’s interest in Garnacho dates back to the January transfer window, when he was also wanted by Napoli.
While United had initially hoped to bring in around £60m for the 21-year-old, Garnacho will become the fourth biggest sale in their history, after Cristiano Ronaldo, Romelu Lukaku and Angel Di Maria, the largest for five years and the most profitable for a player classed as an academy graduate.
The money they will receive for Garnacho will offset some of their summer spending, with Amorim splashing out more than £200m to bring in three other attackers, in Bryan Mbeumo, Matheus Cunha and Benjamin Sesko, and interested in a £17m deal for goalkeeper Senne Lammens.
Chelsea had been looking for another right-footed left winger, to compete with Jamie Gittens, and Garnacho will become the third winger to arrive at Stamford Bridge this summer, along with the former Borussia Dortmund player and Estevao Willian.
He in effect replaces Jadon Sancho, who they chose not to buy and paid a £5m clause to return to United after his loan spell in London.
Garnacho, who joined United from Atletico Madrid for £420,000 in 2020, scored 26 goals in 144 games for them, including scoring in the 2024 FA Cup final win against Manchester City.
However, his relationship with Amorim broke down after he was only a substitute for May’s Europa League final defeat to Tottenham, when his brother Roberto criticised the United head coach on social media.
Garnacho could be followed out of Old Trafford by striker Rasmus Hojlund, with United working on a deal for him to join Napoli. Like Garnacho, Hojlund has not been named in the matchday squad for any of United’s three games this season.
