pedro neto

CHELSEA boss Enzo Maresca wanted another left winger, and the club have given him Alejandro Garnacho.

But is the Argentinian, with his inconsistency on the field and indiscipline off it, the right option?

7

7

7

Garnacho, whose signing is set to be confirmed today after he watched the Blues take on Fulham, undoubtedly has bags of potential.

Aged 21, he has plenty of time to fulfil it.

At a fee of £40m, in a window where players have been going for really silly money, he does not represent a massive risk.

The question is whether Garnacho is better than what Chelsea already have or what they have let go in the course of an incredible summer of buying and selling.

Garnacho is set to duke it out with fellow new arrival Jamie Gittens to be Maresca’s first choice down the left.

The Blues boss said: “They are quite similar.

“When we are looking for a winger, we like wingers who are good in one-v-one, they are quite vertical, aggressive, they can attack, they can create something.

“Jamie is that profile. If Garnacho arrives, we will see.”

7

CASINO SPECIAL – BEST CASINO BONUSES FROM £10 DEPOSITS

Garnacho brings more competition for places in Chelsea’s well-stocked attack.

But when you compare his stats for last season to those of Gittens, it is not much of a contest.

Across most of the important categories, Gittens was better: goals, assists, dribbles, chance conversion and so on.

There are two points to consider, however. Firstly, Gittens had a great time in front of goal last season, outperforming his expected goals significantly.

Meanwhile Garnacho had a particularly bad time when it came to converting big chances.

Secondly, there is the Jadon Sancho factor.

While Sancho was playing for Borussia Dortmund – as Gittens was last season – the then England manager Gareth Southgate was asked frequently about his form and whether he deserved more game time.

Without ever actually saying, “Lads, it’s the Bundesliga”, Southgate made it pretty clear that doing well in Germany’s top flight was one thing, but reproducing that form in the Premier League and at international level was quite another.

Maresca was not impressed with Gittens’ PL debut against Crystal Palace, hooking him after 54 minutes and putting him on the bench for the 5-1 thrashing of West Ham.

Yet it would be harsh to judge Gittens so soon.

Interestingly, too, Sancho’s stats while he was on loan at Chelsea last season stand up pretty well to Garnacho’s for United in some categories.

7

Sancho seemed to enjoy being away from the toxicity of Old Trafford and Maresca said: “We had Jadon with us and he had a very good season.

“Again, if we finish top four and we achieve what we achieved, it’s also because of Jadon.

“Now with Garnacho, in case [if] he will arrive, we will see.”

That phrase again – we will see.

Noni Madueke, sold to Arsenal by the Blues earlier this summer, outperformed both Sancho and Garnacho last season.

Madueke, of course, plays primarily as a right winger. But on output alone, Chelsea seem to have got rid of a more potent attacking player than Garnacho.

And looking at Pedro Neto’s numbers, you wonder whether the Blues would have been better keeping Madueke.

Garnacho’s statistics for United in 2023/4 were in many cases better than in 2024/5, but not to a spectacular degree.

The Argentinian has it all to prove on the pitch.

He will also need to be careful off it.

7

7

Garnacho infuriated United this summer with his habit of sending not-very-subtle messages of defiance through social media.

The Blues boss said: “We are in an era where I look like the strange one, because I don’t use social networks.

“I have a company that runs my Instagram but I don’t use it. I look strange because I don’t use it.

“But the normal situation in this era is that everyone uses it. I’m not going to tell them, don’t use that.

“First of all, because they have family around them that can give them advice.

“I have four kids and try to give them advice.

“But if I have to give 25 more players advice, it’s too complicated.

“Anyone can do what they want, anyone can say what they want, but in the end it’s a matter of respect.”

Garnacho may find Maresca and Chelsea intolerant of mischief-making on social media and other disruptive behaviour.

And he only has to look at the turnover of players at Stamford Bridge to know what will happen if he does not deliver.

ATLANTA — LAFC’s first foray into the FIFA Club World Cup was competitive, but ultimately a defeat.

LAFC hung around against English powerhouse Chelsea at Mercedes-Benz Stadium and had the match still in striking distance nearly the entire way, but lost 2-0 in its first of three group stage matches.

“Chelsea won, deservingly so,” LAFC coach Steve Cherundolo said. “I think we kind of clawed our way back into the game; I think we played a little better in the second half and maybe had the odd chance here or there to get the equalizer.”

The first competitive fixture between English and American clubs featured the mostly expected run of play, with Chelsea carrying most of the action and carving out nearly all of the afternoon’s clear-cut scoring opportunities. It was one-way traffic, and Chelsea broke through in the 34th minute when Pedro Neto beat LAFC goalkeeper Hugo Lloris at his near post following a quick turn inside around defender Ryan Hollingshead.

LAFC soaked up the pressure as long as it could and defended well against continuous pressure for most of the game, a tangible positive for Cherundolo’s team to build on.

“I was quite happy with the way the team performed defensively,” he said. “I think out of the run of play we didn’t concede too much. I think we had things mostly under control, but conceded two transition goals which we didn’t look good on.”

Although it never really dictated terms, LAFC did create a few opportunities in the second half. Denis Bouanga forced a good save from Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez into a close-range save in the 57th minute, but a tight Chelsea defense held the fort long enough for Enzo Fernandez put the match away with a 79th-minute goal after taking down a Liam Delap cross and gliding it past Lloris.

“The higher up you go, the less opportunities you do get,” Cherundolo said. “You need to make sure those opportunities you do get are taken advantage of, or at least you’re making teams defend properly. I think a little bit of carelessness with the ball in the final third and the opponent’s half hurt us.”

Chelsea’s Liam Delap, right, and LAFC’s Aaron Long battle for the ball during Monday’s match.

(Mike Stewart / Associated Press)

In the big picture, this was as much a feeling out process as anything. Not just for LAFC in its first of at least three matches in this tournament, but for this tournament as a whole acting as something of a dress rehearsal for host cities before the 2026 FIFA World Cup.

The crowd itself was certainly not inspiring, just 22,167 in a cavernous stadium set to host five more matches in this tournament and eight next summer. It was a stark contrast from the 80,000 who filled the Rose Bowl for yesterday’s Paris Saint-Germain-Atlético Madrid match, and at times felt more like a preseason exhibition than a major competition despite sturdy efforts from a healthy LAFC’s 3252 supporter group camped behind one goal.

“I don’t know,” Cherundolo said. “I don’t know if there’s just more fans in Los Angeles that are into this tournament than here, or if it’s the pairing tonight, there’s a lot of things I just can’t answer.”

The sample size is small, though, with the sparse Atlanta crowd coming in just the sixth of 63 total matches in the event.

“I don’t think we should be talking about this right now,” he continued. “I think we should be waiting until the end of the tournament to make a more complete summary of what was going on and opinion on it as a whole, as opposed to right now and one game.”

One injury note did come out of the match when LAFC forward Nathan Ordaz left play in the 38th minute after Chelsea captain Reese James took him down with a hard foul on the left wing. James received a yellow card, and Ordaz went into concussion protocol.

“After that happened he just wasn’t quite himself,” Cherundolo said. “We’ll hope that he has a speedy recovery. As more information comes in I can give you more, but right now I don’t have an update.”

The setback broke LAFC’s run of 10 consecutive undefeated matches in all competitions, but it will have opportunities to regroup quickly. Group play continues Friday in Nashville, Tenn., against Tunisian club Espérance Sportive de Tunis before finishing out on June 24 with a match against Brazil’s Flamengo in Orlando, Fla.