Chelsea's Alejandro Garnacho deal makes perfect sense as Enzo Maresca handed £55m transfer boost

Chelsea are making significant progress on the signing of Alejandro Garnacho from Manchester United, football.london understands, with a deal very much expected to be struck in the near future.

Bayern Munich recently made an approach to the Argentine's entourage over a loan move to the Allianz Arena, but Garnacho rebuffed the offer and made it clear he only wants to join the Blues this summer. So far this summer, Chelsea and United have been some way off in their valuation of the 21-year-old winger, with football.london revealing earlier this month that the Blues were only prepared to pay around £30million for his services, while his current employers were demanding £50million.

At the time of writing, Enzo Maresca is rather short of options when it comes to left wingers - Garnacho's preferred position - with Chelsea looking to address that for the head coach. Jamie Gittens started on the left-hand side on Sunday in the goalless draw with Crystal Palace but the 21-year-old winger looked a bit raw.

It was his Premier League debut and because he is so young, it is understandable. Chelsea will need to give Gittens time to adapt to his new surroundings and adding Garnacho for support and competition will help with that. The Argentine is an option on the left wing - and he has admitted in the past that he prefers to play on that side - but he has also been used in the middle before as a No.10 behind the striker.

While Garnacho is an option there, it is unlikely that will be the case at Stamford Bridge given Cole Palmer's almost undroppable status, plus the prospective signing of Xavi Simons. Garnacho is viewed as a left winger by Chelsea and will not be short of minutes if the move to west London - as expected - does go through.

Under Ruben Amorim at Old Trafford, the Argentine has primarily been used as an inside forward, a role that differs to being a traditional winger. Garnacho occupies more central positions in Amorim's three-back formation, with the wing-backs the ones providing the width in the Portuguese's system.

Maresca, though, likes his wingers to stay wide and provide the width in order to stretch the opposition out. We saw that with Gittens, who was signed in a deal that could eventually be worth up to £55million earlier in the summer, at the weekend but it meant the former Borussia Dortmund winger was unable to get involved as much as he would have liked. Whenever he did, there was a feeling he was almost trying too hard to impress his new head coach and supporters.

While the prospective signing of Garnacho certainly divides opinion among Chelsea fans, there is no denying the Blues need a new left-sided winger.

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