Alejandro Garnacho likened to Anthony Gordon amid talk of Chelsea cutting their losses on £40m former Man Utd winger

That is because the 22-year-old forward has failed to make the desired impact in west London. On the back of his big-money move from Manchester United, just eight goals and four assists were recorded across 43 appearances in the 2025-26 campaign.

Garnacho appeared to be short on confidence and ideas at times, with rival defences finding it easier that anticipated to keep him quiet and contain the threat that dancing feet and hard-running once posed at Old Trafford.

An acrimonious departure from the so-called ‘Theatre of Dreams’ appears to have done a man that was overlooked for 2026 World Cup duty few favours, with peak form proving hard to come by after packing bags for the English capital.

There have been suggestions that Chelsea may be willing to cut their losses on Garnacho, if bids are tabled over the coming weeks, with any sale allowing them to free up funds and space in what is already a bloated squad.

Quizzed on whether or not the Blues should be listening to offers, ex-Blues frontman Cascarino - speaking on behalf of Tonybet, whose World Cup Card Collection campaign can see Irish customers win up to €100,000 - told GOAL: “Concerns about the way he left Manchester United. I always like looking back at the period of why he left Manchester United. He clearly made it evident that he wanted to go and there was [Erik] ten Hag who had a bit of an issue and then Ruben Amorim and it was just all mixed about Garnacho.

“I didn't think, only by the way he acted, that he acted like a lad that wanted to stay at Old Trafford and I think he thought the grass was greener elsewhere and the opportunity to go to Chelsea.

“And whatever we say, whether people like it or not, a lot of foreign players like living in London. They just do. You try and persuade a lad to go to Sunderland or Newcastle instead of coming to London where they can travel freely in and out and be closer to whether it's France or Spain. Of course you can get from Newcastle to Spain and France, but it's just different. They see it as just more comfortable.

“I'm saying that, I was in Marseille and I went to Nancy and ended up living in Paris. I didn't stay in Nancy after I finished playing. I went to Paris because I wanted to experience Paris. That's what you do with capital cities, don't you? You end up being lured to them. So I think he got caught with that, but he's been poor.”

Cascarino went on to say of Garnacho, who is considered to sit in a talent pool alongside Barcelona new boy Gordon - with both men seemingly lacking a Plan B in their respective wing play: “I think he's so one dimensional. He's got a little bit of Anthony Gordon in him. The only thing he wants to do is literally run at a defender. And if he doesn't get the better of him very quickly, it feels like he hasn't got anything else to his game.

“Anthony Gordon's a bit like that to me. We saw in the second game with England, when the right-back literally stopped him at every opportunity. It was the Ghana right-back and he couldn't get the better of him. And that was it.

“I think Garnacho actually was a little bit like that. I've watched him a good few times at Chelsea and I've seen him come up and get some good right-backs. And he's never sort of altered his game slightly, which I think as a winger you have to do.”

Gordon has done enough to earn himself a move from Newcastle to Camp Nou and is currently part of England’s squad at the World Cup finals. Garnacho is having to watch that event unfold from afar as Lionel Messi and Co seek to defend Argentina’s global crown.

It remains to be seen what the short and long-term future holds for the out-of-sorts forward, with a contract through to 2032 that still has six years left to run presenting Chelsea with some big decisions as they usher in a new era under the guidance of Spanish coach Xabi Alonso.