Thirty-one minutes in two months
Four against Brighton. Twelve against Arsenal. Fifteen at Hull. Nothing whatsoever against Nottingham Forest last weekend.
That is the whole of Alejandro Garnacho’s Aston Villa career so far. He arrived in the summer on loan from Chelsea, with a €50m option to buy attached, and he has yet to start a Premier League match.
The queue in front of him is getting longer, not shorter.
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Unai Emery keeps picking other people
On the left, the manager’s choice is George Hemmings. He is 19, came through the Nottingham Forest academy as a box-to-box midfielder, and has a handful of senior appearances to his name over two seasons. He is two-footed, which in this system matters.
Buendia is ahead of Garnacho too. Alysson, a €10m signing from Gremio last winter, is around him. So is Ibrahim Mbaye, who cost €55m from PSG in the closing hours of the window and, on his debut last weekend, played almost as many minutes as the Argentine. Mbaye is a right-sided player, for whatever comfort that offers.
Publicly, Emery says the right things. “We want him to get back to the same level he showed with Chelsea in the first half of last season, and at Manchester United,” he told reporters on Friday. “He is a player we signed for the long term, and we will help him feel comfortable and confident so he can show his quality.”
Privately, per the Daily Mail, the coaching staff are less enthusiastic. The report describes a player slow to absorb instructions and not universally popular on the training ground.
Villa have been here before, with Harvey Elliott
The Daily Mail raises a comparison nobody at Villa Park wants to hear. Harvey Elliott came on loan from Liverpool last season with an option that turned mandatory after a set number of appearances. He made nine, scored one, and the option was never triggered.
Garnacho’s contract runs on the same logic. The €50m becomes obligatory once targets described at signing as “easily achievable” are hit. Each weekend on the bench makes them slightly less achievable.
Villa go to Coventry tonight in the third round of the League Cup, and Emery is expected to rotate heavily. A player who cannot get on the pitch in that game is running out of doors.
Villa are 19th. Patience is not really on offer.
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