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. […] I loved that club, you know? They gave me the confidence from the start, from Spain, to bring me to the academy, then they bring me to the first team, so it was like four or five years, and amazing love from everyone, from the fans, the stadium, everything was really good. It’s just sometimes you have to change for the good of your life or the next steps. I only have good memories of Man Utd.”
-Alejandro Garnacho; source: Goal
Good memories at Chelsea, on the other hand, have been in short supply. But there’s always hope of a better future, right?
“I am really proud to be here and still in the Premier League at a club like this. […] We know the team we have, the things we can do. Sometimes is better in some moments, and worse. But yeah, I’m really proud to be here in this moment. The life here is normal, and I’m happy.”
-Alejandro Garnacho; source: Goal
(I’m pretty sure all these quotes come from the same interview with Premier League Productions, though I haven’t actually seen the primary source.)
“Sometimes the first seasons are more hard, but yeah, I will work really hard in the 7-8 games we have left, then the summer, try to train from the start, to prepare the next season, and to be ready to show my best. Because I know what I can do, and this the most important thing”.
-Alejandro Garnacho; source: Fabrizio Romano
Well, let’s hope that the best of Garnacho can bring out the best in the rest of the team as well.
In the Conference League.
