OFFICIAL: Alejandro Garnacho seals Chelsea exit by completing loan move to Aston Villa

23 Jul 2026 15:08 BST |
3 min read

Make us your Google favourite

Aston Villa have confirmed the signing of Alejandro Garnacho from Chelsea on a season-long loan.

Garnacho joins Villa after Chelsea completed the club-record signing of Morgan Rogers earlier this week for €138 million, although the Blues have insisted both deals are independent to each other.

The conditions of the loan have not been revealed but Chelsea have confirmed that the deal contains an obligation to buy if certain conditions are met, believed to be based on appearances ahead of a four-year contract being signed.

Chelsea only signed Garnacho from Manchester United less than a year ago for €46m and it is believed that the total fee received from Villa would be of a similar amount if the move becomes permanent.

Manchester United are understood to have a sell-on clause as part of any future sale by Chelsea but it relates only to profit made by the Blues, which is likely to be minimal.

Aston Villa boss Unai Emery said: “We are delighted with Alejandro. He is so talented, young and he showed us his wish to help our project. We are really happy.”

Garnacho aiming for career resurgence after completing Aston Villa transfer

Garnacho will be hoping the move to Villa represents a fresh start to rehabilitate his career after 18 months of decline, beginning with a fallout at United with then-manager Ruben Amorim.

The 22-year-old was exiled from Amorim’s squad and eventually joined Chelsea late in the transfer window last year, although Garnacho only ended up making 14 starts in the Premier League during his sole season in West London.

Rumours over Garnacho’s conduct and professionalism have persisted around him throughout his young career and they continued at Chelsea, although the club had not forced his exit or isolated him from the first team.

It had been agreed that Garnacho would not join Xabi Alonso’s first pre-season in charge, with a transfer away deemed as the best outcome for all parties.

While Roma were keen to sign Garnacho, Villa took advantage of Chelsea’s interest in Rogers to broker a financially-beneficial deal in the hopes of getting the best out of a player once deemed as one of the brightest wonderkids in Europe.