The SIX real reasons Man Utd binned Garnacho revealed, as Chelsea career begins in calamitous fashion

Steve Pearson 21 Sep 2025 2:25 PM

Chelsea winger Alejandro Garnacho

No fewer than SIX reasons why Manchester United got rid of Alejandro Garnacho have come to light, and the winger’s start to life at Chelsea has gone from bad to worse.

Garnacho placed second only to Bruno Fernandes among all Manchester United players in goals/assists last term. Despite being just 20 years of age at the time, the winger actually hit double figures in both categories across all competitions (11 goals, 10 assists).

Nevertheless, Man Utd saw fit to cash in over the summer and collected £40m from Chelsea. That money will be logged as ‘pure profit’ on Man Utd’s books with the Argentine classified as a homegrown player.

Garnacho was among five stars who were informed at the end of last season they had no future at Old Trafford. The others were Tyrell Malacia, Antony, Jadon Sancho and Marcus Rashford.

Garnacho publicly describing United’s ill-fated 2024/25 campaign as “s***” proved to be the final straw, though a fresh update from the Daily Mail has shed light on the plethora of problems that built up to that moment.

Per their reporter, Chris Wheeler, no fewer than six issues combined to leave Man Utd believing an exit was the best outcome for all involved.

The issues were: 1) Garnacho was selfish in possession and didn’t pass enough, 2) he was lazy in defence and didn’t track back, 3) he had a big ego and poor attitude, 4) he upset senior players, 5) questionable social media antics, 6) he doesn’t fit Ruben Amorim’s 3-4-2-1 formation.

Wheeler wrote: ‘While he aspired to be the next Cristiano Ronaldo, team-mates didn’t rate him as highly as he rated himself and felt he didn’t pass the ball enough.

‘Both Erik ten Hag and Amorim were frustrated by his lack of discipline, especially in tracking back.’

The reporter added: ‘Unlike Amorim, Ten Hag was won over after harbouring early doubts, but recognised the need to bring Garnacho down a peg or two.

‘Having reprimanded Garnacho for walking around the club with his socks down and shoelaces undone, Ten Hag took the youngster on his first pre-season tour to Thailand and Australia in 2022 but froze him out after Garnacho was late down to breakfast at the team hotel in Bangkok and another meeting on the trip.

‘He did not feature until the final pre-season friendly against Rayo Vallecano.’

Wheeler continued: ‘Senior players could find him exasperating. Some, like captain Bruno Fernandes – who admitted that Garnacho ‘did not have the best attitude’ on that tour – and Lisandro Martinez tried to guide him, but with limited success.’

While not the most serious of issues, Garnacho and his family’s indiscretions on social media added to the growing resentment.

‘Garnacho could be sulky and petulant, and took criticism very badly,’ continued Wheeler. ‘He was immature at times and showed it with his posts on social media. He had to apologise to Ten Hag for liking a comment criticising his substitution against Bournemouth and then a dig at the United boss by Ronaldo.

‘Garnacho fiercely denied accusations that he or his brother Roberto were responsible for leaking team news from Amorim’s camp last season.

‘At times, though, the younger sibling only poured fuel on the fire with his social media posts, accusing Amorim of throwing Alejandro ‘under the bus’ in Bilbao (Europa League final).

‘The winger also sparked anger among fans by posting a photo of himself wearing Rashford’s Aston Villa jersey after his team-mate moved to the Midlands in January.

‘By the time his United career drew to a close in August, he had deleted his X account and removed any mention of United from his Instagram bio.’

Finally, Garnacho’s unsuitability to Amorim’s tactical demands ensured the writing was on the wall.

Garnacho does not have the defensive discipline to play as a wing-back and Amorim prefers the two advanced positions behind the striker to be filled by No 10-type players, rather than out-and-out wingers like Garnacho.

Garnacho’s Chelsea career starts with calamity

Garnacho is yet to start a match for Chelsea having been used off the bench in their 2-2 draw with Brentford and 3-1 defeat to Bayern Munich in the Champions League.

All eyes were on Enzo Maresca’s starting line-up ahead of the clash with Man Utd on Saturday. The chance to earn a measure of revenge on his former employers would no doubt have crossed Garnacho’s mind and the winger was even the focal point of a Chelsea post on X hyping up the contest.

Old Trafford, here we come! 😤#CFC | #MUNCHE pic.twitter.com/Ye647uM3QI

— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) September 20, 2025

However, not only did Garnacho not break into the starting eleven, but he remained rooted to the bench as the Blues failed to recover from Robert Sanchez’s early red card.

Garnacho was jeered as he stepped off the Chelsea team bus and heckled as he warmed up both before and during the contest.

Yet with Maresca making a series of questionable substitutions in response to Sanchez’s dismissal, the manager’s hands were tied and Garnacho could do nothing to prevent his former side taking all three points.