Aston Villa have taken ‘big risk’ with £5m deal: ‘Unai Emery backing his knowledge’

Aston Villa’s decision to sign Chelsea winger Alejandro Garnacho on a season-long loan deal is a major gamble. 

That is according to former Villa chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who believes that Unai Emery has been the driving force behind the deal. 

The move for the Argentine came after Villa sold Morgan Rogers to Chelsea for a British-record £117million fee, with strong suggestions that the two deals may have been linked.

Wyness believes that the signing is a “big risk” for his former club, given how “volatile” the former Manchester United man can be at times. 

Garnacho’s move to Villa Park comes with a conditional obligation-to-buy clause, and recent reports have suggested that those conditions will be easily achievable.

Former Manchester City financial advisor Stefan Borson has also told Football Insider that the deal is likely to include a £5m loan fee that will have been paid up front.

Aston Villa gambling on Alejandro Garnacho’s ‘temperament’

Villa’s former chief Wyness – who served as CEO at Villa Park between 2016 and 2018 and now runs a consultancy business advising elite clubs – believes that his former club are taking a gamble, considering Garnacho’s “temperament.”

The Argentine has had plenty of critics at his previous clubs, with his attitude called into question at times when he or the team have been out of form. 

Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider’s Inside Track podcast, Wyness made it clear that Emery will have reason to believe that he can unlock Garnacho this season.

“I think it's got big risk, there is no doubt. Emery is backing his knowledge of the player; he thinks he knows him, he thinks he understands how he can get him to react,” he said. 

“We've seen in the past that Garnacho can be volatile. It's one that is higher risk, but of course Emery is backing himself, so it may well work out. There's no doubt the kid's got talent, and if it's unlocked and he's consistent, then it could work very well.

“It’s all part of this fascinatingly engineered package between Chelsea and Villa to get around all the financial rules, but this is the one element of it that I would say Chelsea have got the better end of the deal there.

“I hope I'm proved wrong and it becomes a huge success for Emery, but there is that question mark over Garnacho's temperament.”

Xabi Alonso masterminding another Villa raid

Wyness also told Football Insider earlier this week that Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso is the driving force behind Chelsea’s imminent move for Villa set-piece coach Austin MacPhee.

The Blues have triggered the Scottish coach’s release clause, and Wyness believes that his countryman will be a huge success at Stamford Bridge.

He outlined that his contacts have raved about MacPhee’s ability and attention to detail for several seasons now, and he turned Villa’s fortunes from dead-ball situations on their head. 

However, he is now set to make the move to Chelsea, in what has become a frustrating theme for Villa this summer.