Aston Villa sold Morgan Rodgers to Chelsea for a record £117m and turned their attention to Alejandro Garnacho in a bid to acquire a player of their own.
Unai Emery led Aston Villa to the Champions League, but they lost key players this summer (Image: 2026 Getty Images)
Aston Villa are about to swing wildly from the sublime to the absurd. It’s such a strange decision that it feels like parking a Robin Reliant where a Ferrari was parked.
Perhaps Unai Emery thinks he can be the manager to free up Alejandro Garnacho’s handbreak. What other reason could there be for the Villa manager to think it makes sense to replace Morgan Rodgers with Garnacho?
But the real mistake Emery made was convincing himself that Garnacho was a good footballer to begin with.
There are several reasons why Garnacho was not selected to represent Argentina at this summer’s World Cup. These included his attitude in training, his approach to the game in general and his unhealthy obsession with social media. However, in a heartbreaking incident, Lionel Messi also expressed concerns about how disruptive Garnacho is to the team and the dressing room.
In other words, Emery had invited a nightmare right in front of his eyes.
Emery has a reputation for reviving lost causes of the past. Players like Marcus Rashford and Marco Asensio come to mind.
But this time the Spaniards bit off more than they could chew.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe is said to have been dancing with joy around the pool at his mansion on the outskirts of Monaco when Chelsea agreed to hand Manchester United £40 million for Garnacho last summer. United’s co-owner must have been in the mood for an expensive bottle of France’s finest champagne.
He expelled from his club a footballer who helped poison the Old Trafford dressing room. The personification of United’s past indulgences with spoiled brats. A footballer with an ego like Eric Cantona, but a football talent like Eric Morecambe.
But Villa supporters won’t be laughing. In fact, no one associated with the club should do so.
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Alejandro Garnacho has no future at Chelsea under Xabi Alonso (Image: John Walton/PA Wire)
Garnacho is a person who is trying to write a check that he cannot cash in his power. The bright lights of London called to him, but Garnacho remained glued to the dimmer switch.
Garnacho has made 117 league appearances for United and Chelsea, scoring a total of 17 goals.
When Chelsea made the daunting decision to sign Garnacho, United’s profit was a loss. It summed up the London club’s obsession with dysfunction and arrogance.
And now it looks like Emery is about to fall into the same trap.
He doesn’t seem to see what he can do with the rest of the football world. This game is about what kind of companions you keep, and Emery is trying to invite troublemakers into the fold. Because the only thing Garnacho is good at is firing managers.
And if this trend continues at Birmingham, Emery will only have himself to blame.
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