Gary Neville makes 'shot to pieces' claim about Alejandro Garnacho at Chelsea after ex-Man Utd winger's 'horrible' display vs West Ham

The Argentina international swapped Old Trafford for Stamford Bridge during the summer of 2025, as a £40 million ($55m) transfer was completed. He has struggled for a spark in west London, registering just six goals - with only one of those coming in the Premier League - across 26 appearances in all competitions.

The 21-year-old hit a new low when lining up against the Hammers in Chelsea’s latest fixture. He was awarded a starting berth, but failed to contain the threat posed down his flank and was removed at the interval with Rosenior’s side trailing 2-0.

Neville, who saw plenty of Garnacho during his time with United, was on co-commentary duty as Chelsea prevailed in a five-goal thriller with London neighbours. He delivered an assessment of Garnacho on his self-titled podcast for Sky Sports.

The United legend said: “In the first half, I have to say that West Ham were absolutely fantastic. They dominated the game, even though they didn’t dominate possession, they dominated the game. They had the best chances, they were more physical, and that left side of Chelsea was obliterated.

“Alejandro Garnacho is a player that divides opinion, I think, at times. A lot of people are questioning, is he top-class or where is he? Where is he in the pecking order? What was difficult to watch was a young player like that, who’s gone to Chelsea and he looked shot to pieces in terms of his confidence on that left-hand side.

“I’m not just talking about when [Aaron] Wan-Bissaka kept going off him running forward, but actually when he got the ball, his first touch was back and then he just kept going back and giving it away. It was an awkward, very horrible experience for both [Jorrel] Hato and Garnacho on that left side, and [Benoit] Badiashiele. But once he changed it, the complete and utter transformation of the game occurred.”

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Neville added on Chelsea as a whole, with Rosenior having made sweeping changes to his side against West Ham in the wake of a Champions League win over Napoli: “I watched Chelsea and honestly I can look at them, they look like an under-10s team when they play for parts of matches and then all of a sudden they can turn into what looks like a real good football side, that’s got a real energy about them and some good quality players.

“You’d have to say Liam Rosenior would look back upon it and he made the seven changes, which I’m not going to criticise him for because I actually think that can be deemed as brave. A lot of managers talk about trusting their squad, but they play the same team near on every single week. They don’t trust the squad. Actually to change your players when he’s had the run of games that he’s had is in some ways admirable.

“He said to those players, I want you to go out there. He said to [Jamie] Gittins, he said to [Liam] Delap, he said to Garnacho, he said to [Jorrel] Hato at left-back, get out there, go and play, I trust in you. But too many changes, it’s too many changes.”

Chelsea sit fifth in the Premier League table, a point behind fourth-placed Manchester United, and Neville expects them to compete for Champions League qualification without pulling up any trees.

He added: “They’ve won in Napoli, they’ve come back from 2-0 down against West Ham, they’ve demonstrated that they’ve got the quality to win in difficult places or come back in games where they look beaten. That’s a really good thing for them. They’re not the real deal, but they should be in the top five.”

Chelsea will be back in cup action on Tuesday when taking in the second leg of their Carabao Cup semi-final clash with Arsenal. The Blues currently trail that contest 3-2 on aggregate.