Manchester United will tell Chelsea – and any interested parties – that they want a total of around £50million for Alejandro Garnacho.
Manager Ruben Amorim told the Argentina winger to find a new club three months ago, but with transfer deadline day on September 1 fast approaching, Garnacho remains at Old Trafford.
Stamford Bridge is seen as the most likely destination for the 21-year-old, but Confidential understands he will only be allowed to leave if the price meets United’s expectations. The club believe all evidence points to their valuation being entirely fair and accurate.
Should a bid from Chelsea be forthcoming – but not hit United’s figure – it may be pointed out to the Blues that they received £48.5m this summer for England winger Noni Madueke and that United feel Garnacho is at least his equal.
Comparisons may also be drawn with players of a similar age who have moved recently. That includes former United academy man Anthony Elanga, for whom Nottingham Forest paid around £52m to Newcastle.
Elanga may have made 20 more top-flight appearances than Garnacho but he has played 21 fewer times in European football.
Manchester United value Alejandro Garnacho at about £50million amid interest from Chelsea
Garnacho has been told to find a new club after Ruben Amorim decided he was not in his plans
United will use Noni Madueke’s £48.5m move to Arsenal as evidence Garnacho is worth £50m
United are still seeking to strengthen their squad but are only likely to do so if they complete more sales, having already spent around £200m on a new-look frontline.
Elanga has been directly involved in 40 goals during his career (goals and assists) compared to Garnacho’s 48. Elanga’s xG (expected goals) is 0.16 compared to the United man’s 0.3, and his assists per 90 minutes are 0.2 compared to Garnacho’s 0.19.
United also feel Garnacho’s stats stand up well to those of Jamie Gittens, who Chelsea signed for an initial £48.5m from Borussia Dortmund, and are substantially better than those of Omari Hutchinson, who joined Forest from Ipswich for £37.5m last weekend.
Garnacho’s relationship with Amorim appeared to reach breaking point following United’s Europa League final defeat by Tottenham, when the youngster was kept on the bench until the 71st minute.
‘Up until the final I played every round helping the team and today I play 20 minutes, I don’t know,’ Garnacho said.
His brother Roberto went further on social media, saying: ‘Working as no-one else, helping every round, coming from two goals in the last two finals, just to be on the pitch for 19 mins and get thrown under the bus.’
United will not settle for a figure below their valuation, but it would appear a move away from the club would be best for all parties. Not only has Garnacho’s relationship broken down with Amorim, it is also strained with elements of United’s fan base.
Ahead of Sunday’s match against Arsenal, a picture of Garnacho close to Old Trafford was defaced. He had angered some United fans this summer when he posted a picture of himself wearing an Aston Villa shirt on holiday in Ibiza, which bore the name of his fellow exiled team-mate Marcus Rashford.
Supporters defaced an image of Garnacho by Old Trafford before Sunday’s clash with Arsenal
Garnacho caused a stir when he showed himself wearing a Marcus Rashford Aston Villa shirt
United line up new academy chief
Stephen Torpey is set to replace Nick Cox as head of Manchester United’s academy after being hand-picked for the role by director of football Jason Wilcox.
It was announced in June that Cox would leave United after six years as their director of academy, to take up the role of technical director at Everton.
Torpey has been academy director at Brentford since January 2024 and will take the same job title at United. He is highly rated following his work with Manchester City, where he helped to develop young stars such as Cole Palmer, James McAtee and Rico Lewis.
He fits into the brief set by United that they wanted a ‘best-in-class’ operator to succeed Cox.
Wilcox saw Torpey’s qualities first-hand during his near-decade-long association with City and Daily Mail Sport understands the pair are ready to reunite at United. The appointment is due to be announced imminently.
It is understood Brentford were reluctant to sanction Torpey’s departure before finding a replacement and the issue of gardening leave is still to be determined by the two clubs.
Torpey is viewed in academy circles as an outside-the-box thinker and caught the attention of rivals with a data-led project he launched while at City. City’s tool for youth development at the time saw them set key benchmarks for players, measuring their social, physical and psychological attributes.
United declined to comment when quizzed on Torpey’s expected arrival.
Stephen Torpey looks set to leave Brentford to take up the role of academy director at United
Faith in Onana driving keeper decision
United supporters are frustrated by reports the club are not looking to sign a goalkeeper this summer, especially in light of Altay Bayindir’s costly error in Sunday’s 1-0 defeat by Arsenal.
It appears money is not the sole factor behind the decision not to seek a new keeper and that internal data has persuaded United to continue with the existing trio of Andre Onana, Bayindir and Tom Heaton.
Daily Mail Sport understands there continues to be a lot of faith in the three keepers and that staff believe various data metrics support that judgement.
United’s biggest problem last season was their inability to score goals after they managed just 44 in the Premier League. Bolstering their attack was rightly prioritised this summer with a £200m overhaul to fix that issue.
United conceded 54 goals in the league last season, putting them joint-10th alongside Fulham.
Onana kept nine clean sheets with a better clean-sheet ratio than Emiliano Martinez, for whom United explored a loan move earlier in the window.
Although nothing can be ruled out with fewer than two weeks left of the window, the focus currently is on sales – they are yet to sell a player for a fee this summer and the ‘Bomb Squad’ are still training away from the main group at Carrington – there are no plans to make a change at goalkeeper between now and deadline day.
Andre Onana was not in United’s squad as they lost their opening game to Arsenal on Sunday
Altay Bayindir deputised for Onana and his error from a corner led to the only goal of the game
Tuchel breaks with tradition
It was curious to see England boss Thomas Tuchel buck the trend of his predecessor Gareth Southgate by going into the tunnel and mixing with players after United’s defeat by Arsenal.
Neither Southgate nor his assistant Steve Holland ever went to chat to players in the tunnel on visits to Old Trafford, instead watching the action from afar in the directors’ box.
But Tuchel spent a long time after the match on Sunday chatting to Mason Mount and Luke Shaw in particular, both of whom will be in his thinking ahead of next summer’s World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Mount has 36 caps for England but the last of those came in their World Cup quarter-final defeat by France in December 2022, where he came in the 79th minute.
His career has stalled since but Tuchel, who worked with the 26-year-old during his time at Chelsea, is a big admirer of Mount and they have spoken privately, too, since the German took the job as England manager.
Kone ready to mask up
An update on the health of Sekou Kone after the head injury he suffered against Tamworth in the National League Cup last week in part led to the abandonment of that match.
Kone clashed heads when trying to clear a corner and was taken to hospital for further treatment. He was released the following morning after responding well.
It can be now revealed Kone fractured his eye socket in the collision and will have a scan this week to assess the extent of the damage to his orbital bone.
The 19-year-old Mali youth international did not travel and was not part of the Under 21 group up in Middlesbrough on Monday.
But club insiders are not overly concerned about his spell on the sidelines. One potential option for Kone is to play in a face mask in a couple of weeks if he feels comfortable enough to do so.
Sekou Kone suffered a serious head injury last week while playing for United’s Under 21 side
Kone is highly rated by United and was part of the squad that toured the US during pre-season
United’s promise after ticketing woe
United have vowed to improve their ticketing system and accepted the club could have done more to help fans after hundreds missed kick-off in the Arsenal match because of issues with the new entry method.
Supporters’ tickets for home games this season are NFC (near-field communication), which works in the same way as a contactless payment from a mobile phone.
Footage on social media showed thousands of fans stuck in queues due to problems with the system.
Among the issues were tickets showing as already scanned or failing to work at the turnstiles. It is thought nearly 400 fans went to the ticket office to report a problem, meaning they missed large parts of the 1-0 defeat by the Gunners, and Confidential understands the issue has been raised with the club.
Sources insist they have learned from the cases that arose and United will do more to make the process smoother for future games at Old Trafford.
United, though, are thought to be happy with the NFC system because 92 per cent of home supporters were inside the stadium at kick-off.
Yoro goes private
Young players finding their feet in new countries can take time to settle in, so it was interesting to see Leny Yoro team up with a private chef.
Footballers, particularly at clubs the size of United, look to private chefs to cook for them and their families, with Matheus Cunha an advocate of having one.
United’s teenage defender Leny Yoro has joined the wave of players employing private chefs
Yoro has become the latest client of Private Dining Club (PDC), a Huddersfield-based business set up by Lashaun Pryce, a former head chef in a successful Caribbean restaurant.
Former Leeds pair Kalvin Phillips and Tyler Roberts have been catered for by PDC previously, as has Newcastle’s Joe Willock.
Amorim keeping watch
It was noteworthy to see Under 18 players JJ Gabriel and Jayden Ngwashi in the directors’ box for Sunday’s defeat by Arsenal.
Director of recruitment Christopher Vivell had a quick conversation with both, along with family members and coaches in attendance with the youngsters.
Both are very highly rated despite Gabriel being 14 and Ngwashi 16.
Particularly Gabriel, who was the stand-out player for the Under 18’s opening league game of the season at Everton, which United won 1-0 after Amir Ibragimov converted a penalty won by Gabriel.
Academy insiders at Carrington have told Daily Mail Sport that first-team boss Ruben Amorim is taking a keen interest in the progress of Gabriel and is being kept updated.
During the pre-season tour in the United States, Amorim was understood to have gone so far as to watch clips of the youngster, who will be a central piece to Darren Fletcher’s Under 18 side this campaign.
14-year-old JJ Gabriel’s performances in United’s Under-18 team have already caught the eye
As previously reported, Gabriel is widely seen behind the scenes as the player with the greatest potential in the academy and he has long been fast tracked well above his age mates, now playing four years up.
Mason loving ‘humble’ Collyer
We were at Wrexham’s SToK Racecourse Ground last weekend to see United youngster Toby Collyer make his debut on loan at West Brom.
Collyer came on in the 87th minute as West Brom ran out 3-2 winners against Hollywood-backed Wrexham with Ryan Reynolds and Rob Mac watching on.
Collyer only made the move official on Friday and a day later was in the squad. Despite such a short time frame, new boss Ryan Mason loves everything about what the 21-year-old midfielder brings.
‘Good kid, humble, wants to work, wants to be part of it and you can feel that as soon as you speak to him,’ Mason told Daily Mail Sport.
‘He wants to play football, loves football, and that’s super important. We want those types of people in the building who want to work, put in the work, and be part of something.’
Collyer came on late to replace two-goal hero Isaac Price in a more advanced No 10 role but Mason believes the United loanee’s versatility to play as a No 6, No 8 or No 10 will prove invaluable in West Brom’s promotion bid.
‘There is loads of room and loads of growth for him to develop,’ he added. ‘I know he’s flexible and can play different positions. I know we’ve got quite a bit of flexibility between our attacking play and our midfielders, different players who can do different things.
United midfielder Toby Collyer made his debut for West Brom last weekend after joining on loan
The midfielder was also part of Amorim’s first-team squad which toured the US in pre-season
West Brom manager Ryan Mason says he has already been impressed by Collyer’s character
‘He’s probably going to have different roles at different times. Today, he replaced Isaac [Price] and had a bit of a higher role, but there will be times where he will be a bit lower and we will be expecting and demanding different things from him.
‘Most importantly he’s going to work hard. He’s part of a group, part of a team and a football club that wants to help him and if we can help him I’m sure he can help us.’
United worked hard to ensure Collyer ended up in a landing spot on loan where he could thrive and while these are early days, it looks like a match made in heaven with Mason at West Brom.
More loans pending
Daily Mail Sport was among the roughly 630 people in attendance at Middlesbrough’s Riverside Stadium on Monday to see United’s opening game of their Premier League 2 campaign.
In a game United won 1-0 thanks to a second-half finish into the top corner by winger Ethan Ennis, much of the intrigue surrounded the next steps for many of the United players involved.
Harry Amass was left out as a precaution as he pushes to finalise a loan move.
We reported in this column last week how PSV Eindhoven made an approach for the young left back.
It can be revealed PSV’s offer was for a permanent transfer, rather than a loan, which did not appeal to United at this stage of Amass’ development.
Harry Amass is set to head out on loan after PSV Eindhoven failed in a bid for a permanent deal
The full back was United’s academy player of the year last season and has a bright future
Ipswich made an enquiry at one stage this summer but there are reservations about available minutes behind Leif Davis at Portman Road.
Elsewhere, Daily Mail Sport understands the plan is to find Ethan Williams a loan move in League One after he impressed in League Two with Cheltenham last season.
Williams, who was taken on the first team’s pre-season tour of the United States this summer, played 17 games in Gloucestershire and looked lively in Middlesbrough.
Academy insiders spoke of plenty of interest in taking the winger on loan this season.
Supporters have also been curious about the next steps for goalscorer Ennis after he went out on loan to Doncaster in League Two last season.
Aberdeen made a pitch to take him but that did not progress and now there is a feeling he could stick around United’s academy for the time being.
Winger Ethan Williams is set for another loan spell after playing with Doncaster last season
Flying the flag in Texas
A feel-good story to end on.
Manchester United took a team to Houston, Texas, for a week-long celebration of disability football through the Genuine Cup.
The tournament, which included 38 teams from 22 countries and was for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities, gave United’s side the chance to pit themselves against footballing giants such as Boca Juniors.
United, who also got to take on Paris Saint-Germain at the 47,000-seat Rice University Stadium, won four of their six matches.
