Garnacho joins Aston Villa from Chelsea
Alejandro Garnacho has left Chelsea for Aston Villa on loan with a view towards a permanent transfer.
The winger only arrived at Stamford Bridge last summer, having been frozen out at Manchester United by its former coach Ruben Amorim.
The Blues spent £40m on Garnacho, but of his 43 appearances for the club in all competitions, only 22 were starts.
He played a total of 2,153 minutes, scoring eight goals and providing four assists, though he only found the net once in the Premier League. Four of his goals came in the Carabao Cup, two in the FA Cup, and one in the Champions League.
The Argentine has gone the opposite way to Morgan Rogers, who swapped Villa Park for West London in a separate, British-record £117m deal earlier this week.
In a statement, Villa only confirmed that Garnacho has arrived on loan for 2026-2027, though Chelsea revealed he will join Unai Emery's men permanently if certain clauses are met.
"We are delighted with Alejandro," Emery said. "He is so talented, young and he showed us his wish to help our project. We are really happy."
Reports suggest that the fee Villa could pay for Garnacho at the end of the season is around £42.5m.
Garnacho's competitive Villa debut could come against Paris Saint-Germain in the UEFA Super Cup on 12 August, with Brighton the opponent on the opening matchday of the Premier League season 11 days later.
Before then, Emery's men have pre-season friendlies against Porto, Real Sociedad, an Indonesia XI, BG Pathum United and Bayern Munich.
