Chelsea are ready to open talks with Manchester United over a potential move for Alejandro Garnacho, talkSPORT understands.
United have been in discussions with Napoli over academy product Garnacho but the Italian side’s offers fell below United’s asking price, which is understood to be between £60-£70million.
Chelsea have been monitoring the situation and are weighing up whether to make a formal bid.
As exclusively revealed by talkSPORT this week Garnacho is reluctantly open to leaving Old Trafford over fears about where he fits into Ruben Amorim’s system.
The young Argentina international has been at Man United since 2020, where he joined from Atletico Madrid, emerging through the academy at Old Trafford.
The 20-year-old has made 172 appearances for Man United at under 18, 19, 21 and senior level.
For the senior team he has scored 23 goals and 14 assists, scoring eight times across all competitions this season.
His last goal this season came in November in a 3-2 victory over Bodo/Glimt in the Europa League.
Chelsea could bolster their attacking options with Garnacho, who could reunite with Jadon Sancho – another Man United prospect.
It comes after Napoli’s €50million bid was rejected by Man United, with the club valuing him between £60-70m.
Napoli will hope to bring in reinforcements after Khvicha Kvaratskhelia moved to Ligue 1 side PSG.
The Serie A side appear to have turned their attentions to Karim Adeyemi at Borussia Dortmund and Chelsea will be keen to replace Mykhailo Mudryk who faces a potentially lengthy ban of four years for doping.
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Further to this, Garnarcho’s agents Carlos Cambeiro and Quique De Lucas were both at Stamford Bridge on Monday for Chelsea’s match at home to Wolves.
Garnacho’s time at Man United has been largely mixed, and his consideration of leaving comes amidst worries where he fits into Amorim’s system.
He notably won the FIFA Puskas Award for the best goal of 2023 with a bicycle kick scored over Everton.
In addition, he has won the League Cup in 2022-23 and the FA Cup in 2023-24.
Of late, his time at United has been tarnished. He did not celebrate after scoring in a 3-0 win over Leicester City when Ruud van Nistelrooy took interim charge.
Captain Bruno Fernandes said it was because he felt unsupported by fans and he had ‘lost faith’ from supporters.
He was dropped alongside Marcus Rashford by Ruben Amorim for the Manchester derby which they won 2-1.
