Manchester United have been looking to offload Alejandro Garnacho and other members of the “bomb squad” all summer, with the day finally here that the Argentine winger will be departing.
This evening, new broke of Chelsea and Manchester United agreeing terms over the transfer of Garnacho after a lengthy pursuit dating back to the winter transfer window.
Back in January, Chelsea were looking at a player-swap deal including Christopher Nkunku in a bid to lure Garnacho to London, however, despite nothing materialising, Chelsea picked up their interest once more at the end of the season.
Throughout the transfer window, Garnacho has had his heart set on a move to Chelsea, even going so far as to tell friends that he’ll be at Stamford Bridge by the end of deadline day.
Thankfully for the winger, Chelsea have been just as keen on signing him, with the London-based club happy to wait the summer and push his move closer to deadline day in a bid to bring down United’s valuation.
Whilst United have put a £50 million price tag on Garnacho, with comparable wingers like Anthony Elanga moving from Nottingham Forest to Newcastle United for a similar fee, Chelsea have been unwilling to pay above £30 million.
Ultimately, the two sides have met in the middle for a fee of £40 million plus a 10% sell-on fee, for United to benefit down the line should Chelsea move him on.
Whilst it’s £10 million under their desired asking price, the move will make Alejandro Garnacho United’s fourth largest sale to date.
At the top of the list is obviously Cristiano Ronaldo’s £82 million (€94 million) move to Real Madrid, followed by Romelu Lukaku’s £64 million (€74 million) move to Inter Milan, and in third is Angel Di Maria’s £55 million (€63 million) move to PSG.
As such, not only is it the fourth-largest sale in the club’s history, but it’s the largest ever sale of a United academy product, with the transfer fee counting as pure profit under Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
