Aston Villa have confirmed the signing of Alejandro Garnacho on loan from Chelsea.
It is believed that the deal includes a conditional obligation to buy clause, with the player pre-agreeing a four-year deal with the Villans should the conditions be met.
talkSPORT understands the total package including the loan fee and conditional obligation has achieved Chelsea’s valuation of around £42million.
Villa manager 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 will wear the No.17 shirt which has been vacated by Donyell Malen, who recently joined Roma.
It appeared Chelsea would be reluctant to sanction a temporary departure for the eight-cap Argentina international but have now come round to the idea.
The Midlands are keen to bring in a replacement for Morgan Rogers, who has joined the Blues in a deal worth £117m.
His switch to Stamford Bridge would have only seen Garnacho fall further down the pecking order, having already been placed on the transfer list – one year after joining from Manchester United in a £40m move.
Garnacho had been linked with Roma earlier in the window, but they failed with a loan offer to bring him to Italy.
That’s Al folks
Roma switched their attention to West Ham’s Crysencio Summerville, who had been on Villa’s radar, but Al Hilal are now expected to sign the Netherlands international.
And in turn, Villa formalised their interest in Garnacho, where they are able to offer him Champions League football.
talkSPORT told you on Tuesday how both Garnacho and Nicolas Jackson had been offered to Villa in the wake of their deal to sign Rogers.
It is also understood that as well as Garnacho, Emery’s men hold firm interest in Paris Saint-Germain starlet Ibrahim Mbaye.
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In what was a disappointing 2025/26 season for Garnacho, he scored just once from 24 Premier League outings.
Named just 14 times in a top-flight starting XI, the Red Devils academy graduate looks poised for a new adventure.
What has been said about Alejandro Garnacho?
Speaking on Garnacho’s future earlier in July, Chelsea boss Xabi Alonso confirmed that the forward is attracting interest.
And he refused to rule out the club standing in Garnacho’s way of a potential summer exit.
He said: “We have spoken with the sporting directors and there is interest in him from other clubs, let’s see how it develops.
“Hopefully it finishes in the best possible way for all parties.”
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Meanwhile, Kevin Nolan has wondered why Villa would want to welcome Garnacho into their squad during his appearance in the talkSPORT studio on Tuesday.
Questioning his professionalism, the ex-Newcastle midfielder said: “I don’t know the kid personally, I don’t know him at all.
“I’m just looking at him when I see him and what he’s done at Manchester United and then going to Chelsea.
“He looks like a problem child, he looks like a problem if he’s not playing, he’ll throw his toys out of the pram if it’s not going too well for him.
“I think if you’ve got him on board, and you’ve got your arm around him and everything else and if everything suits him, I think he’s a real big and good player.
“But is he big enough for Unai Emery to sort of go, ‘I’ll take him because I’ll be able to get the best out of him?'”
