{"id":906104,"date":"2026-04-20T04:38:17","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T04:38:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/906104\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T04:38:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T04:38:17","slug":"manchester-uniteds-40m-mistake-has-never-looked-like-a-better-bit-of-business","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/906104\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchester United’s \u00a340m ‘mistake’ has never looked like a better bit of business"},"content":{"rendered":"

Man United came up against a familiar face on Saturday and Alejandro Garnacho won’t want to see his former employers any time soon.\"Garnacho<\/p>\n

Garnacho had a tough evening on Saturday<\/p>\n

Cancelled trains and yet another ridiculous kick-off time for an away game in London meant it was never going to be a smooth journey to and from Stamford Bridge for Manchester United<\/a> supporters. By 10pm on Saturday, any travel chaos or grumbles over unsociable kick-off times had long been forgotten by those in the lower tier of the Shed End.<\/p>\n

United were by no means anywhere near their best<\/a>, but they dug in when they needed to, produced the game’s standout bit of quality and came up against a Chelsea side whose blunt attack misfired once again.<\/p>\n

Matheus Cunha’s classy finish shortly before half-time ensured those travelling fans went home with smiles on their faces. But the truth is the arduous trip to west London had been made worthwhile long before Cunha expertly guided his winning goal beyond Robert Sanchez.<\/p>\n

Click here<\/a> to find out the latest Manchester United news in our daily newsletter<\/strong><\/p>\n

The previous meeting between the two sides back in September marked the return of Alejandro Garnacho to Old Trafford. The Argentine had burnt his bridges at United a few months prior with an unceremonious exit, and if the reception he received at Stamford Bridge on Saturday night is anything to go by, he’ll have been glad the extent of his evening’s work at Old Trafford earlier in the season didn’t extend beyond a watching brief from the bench.<\/p>\n

The travelling United fans needed no encouragement to remind Garnacho of their feelings towards him. When the Chelsea forward lost out in a tussle with Diogo Dalot before being tossed to the floor in front of the away section, the cheers that followed were only marginally quieter than the ones that greeted Cunha’s goal.<\/p>\n

When United agreed to sell Garnacho to Chelsea for \u00a340million, some believed United were making a big mistake. Not necessarily because they were wrong to sell him – his behaviour prior to his exit was in no way acceptable – but more so because the fee seemed so low.<\/p>\n

Despite that \u00a340million representing the largest fee United had received for an academy graduate, the callow winger clearly had bags of potential and was nowhere near the end product. Seven months on from his exit and you’d be hard pushed to find a Chelsea fan who still believes it was money well spent.<\/p>\n

Recent reports have claimed Chelsea are already willing to part ways with Garnacho after a return of just one league goal in 22 outings for the Blues so far. While Garnacho’s talent was never in doubt, his attitude was, and it’s difficult to see him thriving at a club who seem to be in a constant state of transition and have an inexperienced playing squad led by an equally inexperienced manager.<\/p>\n

Garnacho was one of the worst performers on the pitch on Saturday night. Dalot had his number in their duel on the United right and Garnacho was at fault for United’s winning goal, failing to stop Bruno Fernandes as he teed up Cunha for the winner.<\/p>\n

If the clash in the capital was Garnacho’s chance to prove United were wrong to let him go then he certainly didn’t take it.<\/p>\n

Chelsea supporters couldn’t believe their club had managed to sign a player with such potential for \u00a340m last summer. It’s the United fans who are laughing now.<\/p>\n

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This article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it. Learn more<\/a>\"Content<\/p>\n

Sky has upgraded its Ultimate TV and Sky Sports bundle to now include HBO Max, Netflix, Disney+, discovery+ and Hayu, as well as 135 channels and full Sky coverage of the Premier League and EFL.<\/p>\n

Sky broadcasts more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more with at least 215 live from the top flight alongside Formula 1, darts and golf.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Man United came up against a familiar face on Saturday and Alejandro Garnacho won’t want to see his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":906105,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[8813],"tags":[1682,748,6274,393,4884,2465,423,11507,9060,101,16,15],"class_list":["post-906104","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-manchester","tag-alejandro-garnacho","tag-britain","tag-chelsea-fc","tag-england","tag-great-britain","tag-manchester","tag-manchester-united-fc","tag-manchester-united-fixtures","tag-manchester-united-transfer-news","tag-premier-league","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116435191035572458","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=906104"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906104\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/906105"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=906104"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=906104"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=906104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}