Aston Villa agree deal to sign Chelsea star

Chelsea face Australian side Western Sydney Wanderers in their first match of their pre-season tour on Tuesday night. 

Xabi Alonso will take charge of the Blues for the first time – albeit in a non-competitive fixture – in Sydney next week, before the London outfit continue on a pre-season tour of Australia and Asia.

The Spaniard took charge of Chelsea earlier this summer and arrives in London with a strong reputation, having guided Bayer Leverkusen to their first ever Bundesliga title a few years ago.

Chelsea have also already recruited strongly in the transfer market this summer, with Marco Palestra, Geovany Quenda and Morgan Rogers all arriving at Stamford Bridge.

Now, though, it appears that one star is on his way out of SW6.

According to Fabrizio Romano, Aston Villa have agreed a deal to sign winger Alejandro Garnacho on loan from Chelsea.

The Italian journalist claims that the Villans have reached an agreement with their Premier League rivals to sign the Argentine on loan for the upcoming campaign, with the deal also including an obligation-to-buy clause if certain criteria are met.

Garnacho (centre) struggled last term (Photo: Alamy)

last summer, Villa signed midfielder Harvey Elliott on a similar deal from Liverpool, but the Englishman featured just nine times during his spell at Villa Park.

Garnacho joined the Blues from fierce rivals Manchester United ahead of the 2025/26 season, but scored just eight goals in 43 games for the Blues last term, as well as registering our assists.

That poor form meant the winger missed out on a place in Lionel Scaloni’s Argentina squad for the World Cup in North America this summer.

According to Romano, Villa manager Unai Emery was particularly keen to sign Garnacho and had identified him as a top transfer target for this summer’s window.