Heading to Napoli or Chelsea? Why Man Utd would consider selling Alejandro Garnacho
Set to leave?
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Few would doubt that Ruben Amorim’s start as Manchester United manager has been anything but straightforward. While the Portuguese tactician has undoubtedly enjoyed some notable success, such as wins over Arsenal and Manchester City, he has also overseen just five wins from his first 13 games in charge of the club. The Old Trafford faithful are well aware of the monumental task ahead of Amorim if he is to succeed in reestablishing Man Utd as a regular top four side in the Premier League. That, apparently, will require a huge turnover of players in the first team squad. And that will likely mean the departure of some big names from the club this month or in the summer.
| Rumour | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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Left Winger
| Man Utd |
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55 % |
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Napoli |
| Premier League | Serie A |
| Rumour | |||
|---|---|---|---|
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Left Winger
| Man Utd |
|
25 % |
 |
Chelsea |
| Premier League | Premier League |
One such name is Alejandro Garnacho. According to the Independent, Man Utd are weighing up the possibility of selling the young winger after Serie A side Napoli declared their interest in signing him this month. Antonio Conte’s side will be in need of a winger following the departure of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia to Paris Saint-Germain and Garnacho has apparently been earmarked as an ideal successor to the Georgian star. The English publication claim that the Old Trafford club would be willing to sell their academy player, but are holding out for a fee in the region of €83 million, which is notably higher than the €45m Napoli are reportedly prepared to offer. Another report from the Athletic have since stated that Chelsea could be tempted to make an offer for the player too. But why are Man Utd so keen on selling one of their most promising young players this month?
There are two notable factors behind Garnacho’s reported departure from Man Utd: one is due to sporting reasons and the other is the cold, hard finances behind such a deal. In terms of the player’s standing in Amorim’s squad, it seems as though the new Man Utd manager quickly went sour on his Argentine star at the very beginning of his tenure. Whether that’s due to a clash of personalities or simply because Garnacho doesn’t fit into Amorim’s 3-5-2 system is certainly up for debate, but at a press conference this week the Old Trafford boss certainly hinted at the young player’s inability to do what his manager is asking of him on the pitch. “That is clear, he has talent,” replied Ruben when asked if Garnacho had a future at Man Utd, before stating: “He needs to learn to play a little bit in a different position. He needs to play better inside. He improved a lot in the recovering position, when he doesn’t have the ball, but, doing that, sometimes he’s not in the right place to make transitions, like he was in the past, because I prefer to defend and then build up with all the team to make the final third.” As such, it seems as though Garnacho has tumbled down the pecking order at Old Trafford and has been overlooked by other players.
The other reason Man Utd may wish to sell Garnacho is due to the club’s limitations under the Premier League’s Profit & Sustainability Rules (PSR). Although the Old Trafford club have not been charged for breaching the rules this season, the financial limits encourage clubs to largely fund the money they spend on new players through the sale of old ones. And due to the workings of the rules, the sale of youth academy players can often be considered as pure profit for clubs in the English top-flight. This, undoubtedly, is something that Man Utd will need to take advantage of if they hope to find Amorim’s large-scale changes to the team. And a player like Garnacho could prove to be extremely useful when it comes to Man Utd buying new players over the course of 2025, while still navigating the league’s financial fair play rules.
As we can see in the table above, Man Utd’s record of making substantial income from player sales has been patchy at best over the course of the last 10 seasons. Although this season has seen a record high of €103m, the following nine seasons have seen the club, on average, earn just €48.7m in player sales. Which simply isn’t enough when we consider that the club typically spends more than €100m on new players each season. This issue can perhaps be better highlighted when we draw comparisons to Man Utd’s biggest rivals in the Premier League. Over the course of the last 10 seasons, the Old Trafford club have earned €540.7m from player sales. That may seem like a lot, but it places them 31st among all clubs for that metric and is considerably behind Manchester City (€905m in player sales) and Chelsea (€1.4 billion). In fact, over the course of the last 10 seasons, Man Utd have run up the biggest transfer deficit in English football, with a bill standing at €1.2b.
Fortunately for the Old Trafford club, the Premier League’s rules only consider the losses of any given club over a three-year reporting cycle. And, unlike many of their domestic rivals, Man Utd can rely on huge revenue streams beyond what they make in the transfer market. However, those revenues only go so far and under the new financial fair play rules in England, Man Utd are having to change their approach to player recruitment and that may mean earning profits from player sales that will rival the likes of Man City and Chelsea. Whether that will lead to the club selling Garnacho remains to be seen, but it certainly seems to be one of the leading factors that is nudging the Argentine winger towards the exit door this month.
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