Alejandro Garnacho reflects on Manchester United exit, Chelsea struggles

LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - MARCH 21: Alejandro Garnacho of Chelsea reacts during the Premier League match between Everton and Chelsea at Hill Dickinson Stadium on March 21, 2026 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Carl Recine/Getty Images) | Getty Images From a brash, rising superstar at Manchester United to a glum, struggling benchwarmer at Chelsea, it’s been a rough couple years for Alejandro Garnacho. He’s gone from the great hope of one club, to practically an afterthought at another, and largely forgotten everywhere else.

Last summer’s £40m change of scenery certainly hasn’t had the desired effect, with the 21-year-old not finding much success for us outside of the domestic cups — starting less than half of our games in the league, and scoring 6 of his 8 goals in either the League Cup or the FA Cup. And a solid portion of his roughly 2000 minutes total have only come about as a result of injuries to the likes of Cole Palmer and Estêvão. In short, it’s not been great, even by current Chelsea standards.

Garnacho himself is certainly under no delusions either, recognizing that his first season at Stamford Bridge has not lived up to anyone’s expectations. That’s certainly not what he would’ve wanted, given the way his time at United ended. “In the last six months I was just not playing like before at Manchester United.

I started to be on the bench, it’s not (such a) bad thing, I was only 20 years old, but in my mind it was like I had to play every game. In my mind, maybe it is also on me, I started to do some bad things. ” “[I] have nothing wrong to say about the club or any team-mates, no-one.