Chelsea, once again, appear to be collecting all the wide-attackers they can get their hands on.
On deadline day, in a deal that had been in the pipeline for months, the Blues confirmed the signing of Alejandro Garnacho from Manchester United for a reported fee of £40m.
This summer alone, the Blues had also already added Estêvão Willian, Jamie Gittens, João Pedro and Kendry Páez to their ranks, all players who like to be deployed just behind a centre-forward, either out-wide or centrally.
However, is this continued mass summer spending actually blocking the pathways for Cobham’s most talented youngsters, one in particular who is still at the club, despite very nearly leaving?
Will Alejandro Garnacho improve Chelsea?
Despite the fact this transfer had been on the cards since May, it remains unclear where Garnacho will fit in at Chelsea.
As already alluded to, they have an abundance of attacking options, particularly in Garnacho’s favoured left-wing position, with Gittens starting there on the opening day of the Premier League season against Crystal Palace, while Pedro Neto has got the nod for the two subsequent matches.
So, when extrapolating Garnacho’s Premier League statistics from last season and comparing them to Chelsea’s players, how does the Argentine international compare? Let’s find out.
Goals
6
5th
Assists
2
8th
Shots
84
2nd
Shots on target
29
4th
Shots on target %
34.5%
10th
Goals – xG
-1.3
20th
Shot-creating actions
83
5th
Goal-creating actions
6
8th
Progressive carries
141
2nd
As the table outlines, among Chelsea players last season, only the now departed Noni Madueke registered more progressive carries than Garnacho, but the 21-year-old isn’t much of a clinical finisher, as underlined by his goals – xG figure, certainly more of a high volume shooter, but without much accuracy.
Thus, it remains to be seen whether or not Garnacho will actually improve Chelsea, so should Enzo Maresca prioritise giving minutes to a home-grown academy graduate?
Chelsea's next Cobham superstar
On deadline day, it appeared as though Tyrique George would become the latest Chelsea academy graduate sacrificed to help the club comply with the Premier League’s Profitability & Sustainability Rules.
Fulham had agreed a £22m fee to sign the teenager, with George even completing a medical ahead of a move to Craven Cottage, only for them to pull the plug on the deal at the eleventh hour, signing Kevin from Shakhtar Donetsk and Samuel Chukwueze on loan from AC Milan instead.
Thus, George has returned to Chelsea, and this could turn out to be an absolute blessing.
Football analyst Ben Mattinson is certainly a fan, comparing him to a “young Callum Hudson-Odoi”, praising his “excellent ball manipulation” and outstanding “ball-striking” ability, asserting that he is “one of the very best in the world” in his age group.
It is easy to forget just how good Hudson-Odoi was when he first burst onto the scene, with the Blues famously rejecting a £70m bid from Bayern Munich for his services back in 2020, eventually selling him to Nottingham Forest for £3m three years later.
Well, George could be even better, after enjoying a breakout season last time round, accumulating 1,154 senior minutes, scoring his first-ever Premier League goal against Fulham on Easter Sunday, also netting against Legia Warszawa in the Conference League and during the 3-0 demolition of Espérance Sportive de Tunis at the Club World Cup.
Most of his minutes came in the Conference League, a key figure across the Blues’ 15 matches in the competition, with Jacek Kulig of Football Talent Scout labelling him one of England’s “most interesting” young talents, forecasting that he has a “big future ahead”.
Thus, especially given that they were prepared to sell him to Fulham, one has to be concerned about where George’s minutes will come from, but Maresca should prioritise giving him opportunities, given that he has a higher ceiling than Garnacho in particular.
