Alejandro Garnacho was arguing with coaches at 10 years old and only one ‘genius’ can save him

Alejandro Garnacho has officially entered the last-chance saloon after joining Aston Villa – but ‘genius’ Unai Emery might be his saviour.

The 22-year-old Argentine international has sealed a season-long loan to Villa Park, which includes a conditional obligation-to-buy clause.

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The winger scored eight times in 43 appearances for Chelsea last season following his move from Manchester United last summer.

However, only one of those came in the Premier League, and the £40million man was then placed on the transfer list after one season.

Despite this, Emery said upon his arrival to Villa’s club website: “We are delighted with Alejandro.

“He is so talented, young, and he showed us his wish to help our project. We are really happy.”

It is those words that have gone some way to waking Gabby Agbonlahor up from the ‘nightmare’ that is Garnacho’s arrival.

“If there’s ever a manager who can get extra out of a player, it’s Unai Emery,” Agbonlahor said on talkSPORT Breakfast.

“Last season, he tried with [Jadon] Sancho, it didn’t work, he’ll try again with Garnacho. We hear reports that he’s been interested in him for a couple of years; maybe he sees something in Garnacho that I don’t.

“But our manager is a genius, so I’ll have to trust what he does. He’s going to be an Aston Villa player, so I have to try and be positive because it is my football club.

“But what I’ve seen throughout his career, because I watch a lot of football for my job, I haven’t seen a player who is at the level that Aston Villa need.

“But he’s 22, he’s not 28, 29, hopefully we haven’t seen the best of Garnacho in his career.”

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Aston Villa reveal Garnacho shirt number

As talkSPORT’s Agbonlahor alluded to, this is the latest in a line of redevelopment projects for underperforming wingers at Villa.

Garnacho has inherited Morgan Rogers’ No.17 shirt – and, ironically, considering the latter’s celebration, the Argentine’s career has blown cold in recent years.

The Spanish-born star was proving a handful for coaches as far back as his transition from seven-a-side to 11v11 football at Under-12 level.

His ex-Getafe youth coach Antonio Mellado told the Sun: “I remember many times arguing with Alejandro in the middle of a game.

“He saw things his way and told them to my face without any beating around the bush. Other guys don’t even dare to ask why the coach makes his decisions.

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“It’s not normal for a ten-year-old boy to tell you so many things about how he saw them,” Mellado continued.

“And he’d tell you straight, without any anaesthetic. I told him he was a right winger, and he said no, he was a left winger.”

Garnacho’s temperament failed to improve following his move to Atletico Madrid, with his off-field problems leading the club to hand-pick one of their best youth coaches to work directly with him.

Jesús Adolfo Marcos revealed: “They wanted me to train the best young player at the club. That was my mission, and at the same time my biggest challenge.”

He added: “Alejandro was a street boy, from a Getafe neighbourhood, and we immediately decided to transfer him to the academy hotel, because he was not a good student.

“He was smarter than the rest of the kids, but he became troublesome…he was a rascal, and he created trouble inside the hotel.

“He would sneak food into the room, candy and stuff, and hide his phone from us and be on it until late at night. He was also the first of his group to break the rules.”

Emery wouldn’t stand for anything similar – but this time Garnacho himself has chosen his coach; and it might be just what he needs…