Chelsea £40m transfer decision leaving many red-faced as John Terry delivers 'petrifying' verdict

Chelsea made the divisive signing of Alejandro Garnacho over the summer transfer window but in recent games, the Argentine winger has started to show his true colours

Many were left surprised and somewhat confused when Chelsea decided to pursue the signing of Alejandro Garnacho over the summer transfer window. Not only had the Blues recently completed a deal to bring Jamie Gittens, who is a natural left winger as well, to the club, but there were many question marks over Garnacho and his attitude.

Ruben Amorim did not appreciate the Argentine and his body language in particular when he was readying himself to come on late against Viktoria Plzen back in December. Amorim felt as if Garnacho was not listening to his instructions when he was about to come on in the Europa League tie, and the United boss dropped him from the squad for the next game - a Manchester derby of all games.

A few months later against Ipswich Town, Garnacho was sacrificed as Amorim was forced to rejig his side following Patrick Dorgu's red card. The 21-year-old winger then walked straight down the tunnel following his former manager's decision. Garnacho later apologised to the squad, according to Amorim, but it only took a few more months before the winger's actions came under the microscope once more.

Amorim only used Garnacho as a 71st-minute substitute in the Europa League final defeat to Tottenham in May. Garnacho reportedly told reporters in the mixed zone after that the "final will influence [his decision to stay or leave United]". And then in June, Garnacho uploaded a picture of him on Instagram in an Aston Villa shirt with his friend and United outcast Marcus Rashford on the back. Something, it is fair to say, that did not go down well with United supporters.

By that point, though, it was fairly clear Garnacho was on his way out of Old Trafford. Chelsea had expressed an interest in the Argentine over the January transfer window, with several left wingers on the west Londoners' radar, though they decided to stick with what they already had for the remainder of the 2024/25 campaign.

That - in many ways - proved to be the right decision. Jadon Sancho showed patches of form that helped Chelsea get over the line, although the Blues decided not to make his loan deal permanent. The west Londoners went on to win two major honours at the end of the campaign, but the left wing was viewed as an area that needed major strengthening.

In came Gittens. The England Under-21 international was brought in from Borussia Dortmund for just north of £50million and signed a seven-year contract. Tyrique George was too an option for the left-hand side and after an encouraging 2024/25 campaign from the Cobham graduate, many were expecting him, along with Pedro Neto who can play on the left-hand side if necessary, to be the options for Enzo Maresca down that flank.

Chelsea, though, stayed close to Garnacho and his entourage throughout the summer and the feeling pretty much stayed the same all window-long: a deal would eventually be completed. There was a bit of haggling with Man United over the Argentine's signature. At one stage, the Blues refused to go over the £30million-mark, while United were holding out for something closer to £50million.

Naturally, an agreement was reached slap bang in the middle with Chelsea paying their Premier League rivals a fixed fee worth £40million, football.london understands. Garnacho had his heart set on a move to Stamford Bridge all summer and even rejected a chance to join Bayern Munich. Some supporters, though, were left confused as to why the Blues decided to bring Garnacho to the club (for all the reasons above).

Garnacho made his Chelsea debut on September 13 in the 2-2 draw with Brentford. While he showed glimpses of his attacking talent, the Argentine's defensive work was under the spotlight, with some lapse tracking of his man allowing the Bees to score an equaliser deep into stoppage time in the west London derby.

There was an acceptance, though, that Garnacho did not have much of a pre-season with his former club, so his fitness was nowhere near up to scratch. It was not until September 30 where we saw a version of the winger that Chelsea supporters could be excited about. While not at his scintillating best, Garnacho assisted the only goal of the game as the Blues saw off Jose Mourinho's Benfica at Stamford Bridge.

Some progress. Yet it felt as if that was almost wiped out the next month as Garnacho put in a terrible display away at Nottingham Forest. The former United winger was really wasteful at the City Ground and was unsurprisingly taken off at half-time, with the match goalless, with Chelsea coming out in the second-half to score three and win the game.

There might have been a temptation from Maresca to take Garnacho out of the side seven days later when Sunderland came to Stamford Bridge, but the head coach kept the left-hand side the same for the visit of the Black Cats. Garnacho repaid the Italian's faith just minutes into the match with a well taken goal - his first for the club - giving Chelsea an early lead in their Premier League game.

Around 10 days later, Garnacho was once again on the score sheet for the Blues. On as a half-time substitute in Azerbaijan, the Argentine levelled the match with a clever finish from a tricky angle to earn Chelsea a draw against Qarabag in the Champions League. Arguably his best performance for the club, though, came on Saturday evening.

Chelsea had to be patient for their win against rock-bottom Wolves. Wanderers, under caretaker charge at the moment, came to Stamford Bridge and sat in a low block to try and frustrate the hosts. Chelsea relied on a moment of magic from Garnacho at the start of the second-half to unlock the door on Saturday night.

A shimmy from Garnacho gave him a yard of space against the full-back before delivering an inch-perfect cross to the far post for Malo Gusto to head past Sam Johnstone in front of the Matthew Harding Stand. Garnacho was then on hand to assist Chelsea's third - and final - goal of the night to wrap up a fine second-half display.

This time, Garnacho showed something we haven't seen too much of since signing for the club - pace. On the counter-attack, the winger burst past his man with relative ease before putting the ball on the plate for Neto to tap in from close range. Fantastic from Garnacho, and it was no surprise to see Neto recognise that and perform his teammate's trademark celebration alongside him.

It has taken a bit of time for Garnacho to really come alive at Chelsea, but in recent games he has shown what he is all about. At £40million, which is a fairly modest fee in today's game, Chelsea have a potential bargain on their hands. Maresca has been very complimentary of his winger in recent weeks with the head coach crucially noticing an improvement from the former United winger out of possession as well as what he is producing in the final third.

The Blues head coach said: "He arrived here from another club where he was not training 100%. So his physical condition was not good. Slowly, slowly, now it's better. He's doing very well on the ball, but he's doing very, very well off the ball.

"He knows that to play with us, he has to be good on the ball and off the ball. Otherwise, he's not going to play. We are very happy with him at this moment."

Chelsea icon John Terry was very impressed with what he witnessed from Garnacho on Saturday evening. Terry said: "I also want to touch on how good Garnacho was. Absolutely petrifying as a defender when you're facing something that's quick and that direct. He gives us something the other wingers don't as well.

"That's what you want to see as a Chelsea fan, players like that beating players. It doesn't always have to be with loads of skill. You can knock it past people when you're that quick and put crosses in the box and make it difficult for defenders. I'm delighted with that."