Why Alejandro Garnacho could trump Marcus Rashford as Unai Emery’s best Aston Villa resurrection act yet
It’s become a common theme of Unai Emery’s tenure at Aston Villa.
In the last two seasons, the Spaniard has become enamoured with a player who, for whatever reason, has lost their way.
Let’s rewind to the summer of 2024, when Villa were preparing for their maiden Champions League campaign following the competition’s re-brand in 1991.
One Fel swoop
Joao Felix, who had joined Atletico Madrid from Benfica in an eye-watering £113million deal five years earlier, was high in Emery’s thinking.
But Villa were not targeting the same Felix that convinced Atleti to fork out a nine-figure sum.
As talented as Felix may have been, there were questions over his consistency and effort.
“He (Felix) has all the qualities to be an incredible player, but as good as you are, if you don’t work, it’s not enough,” Saul Niguez, Felix’s former teammate at Atleti, previously said on Spanish radio.
Despite Emery’s keenness to sign Felix across multiple transfer windows, underpinned by the Spaniard’s belief he could revive the stuttering career of the 2019 Golden Boy, a deal never came to fruition.
Felix, 26, now plies his trade with Al-Nassr in Saudi Arabia.
Emery’s not-so-Rash decision
We now move to January 2025, where Villa had progressed to the knockout stage of the Champions League and were looking to finish the Premier League campaign strongly.
Marcus Rashford had been frozen out at Manchester United by then-manager Ruben Amorim.
Their relationship was so strained, Amorim said he would rather have his then-63-year-old goalkeeping coach Jorge Vital be among the substitutes over Rashford, who ‘doesn’t give the maximum every day’.
But Emery spotted an opportunity to get a forward blessed with remarkable pace and quality back to his best.
“My challenge with him is huge,” Emery said after Rashford moved to Villa on loan until the end of the season.
Marco Asensio, who Emery unsuccessfully pushed to sign in the summer of 2023, also arrived on loan.
Asensio, a three-time Champions League winner with Real Madrid, chose Paris Saint-Germain over Villa in 2023 but had struggled for game time with the French side.
Working under Emery ultimately proved to be a wise move for Rashford.
He quickly regained his spot in the England squad and spent last season on loan with Barcelona, although he is somewhat back to square one after they opted not to make the move permanent.
Villa did attempt to re-sign Asensio after his loan spell ended but could not complete a deal, as the attacking midfielder eventually moved to Turkish giants Fenerbahce.
The Don
The summer of 2025 brought yet another high-profile name, at least on paper, to Villa Park.
Jadon Sancho joined Manchester United from Borussia Dortmund in July 2021 for an estimated £73m.
It was a monumental fee for Sancho, who was just 21 years old at the time.
But – there’s a theme here, isn’t there – the big-money switch did not go to plan for either party.
After two seasons where he struggled to live up to the lofty price tag, Sancho’s woes with United came to a head in September 2024 when the forward was forced to train away from the first team until a ‘squad discipline issue’ was resolved.
Mixed loan spells with Dortmund and Chelsea followed before he wound up at Villa on deadline day.
However, the 26-year-old struggled to make his mark under Emery, registering one goal and three assists from 39 appearances across all competitions.
Sancho was later released by United and remains a free agent.
Garna do it once more?
Which brings us to this transfer window, where Emery is, yet again, about to embark on yet another resurrection act.
This time, it’s Chelsea winger Alejandro Garnacho, who is poised to join Villa on loan but with a conditional obligation to buy clause.
Emery previously tried to land the Argentinian last summer when it was clear he had no future at Old Trafford, only for Garnacho to join Chelsea instead.
But the Blues are already looking to offload Garnacho after just one season in which he scored eight goals and assisted four.
Given the timing of Garnacho’s potential move compared to the deadline day rush of Sancho, Emery’s fingerprints are all over this deal and there’s a high chance the winger would slot straight in to Villa’s starting line-up.
Yet it’s one that former Premier League stalwart Kevin Nolan couldn’t quite wrap his head around, even if Emery backs himself to revive the 22-year-old.
Nolan, who admitted he doesn’t know Garnacho personally, said: “He looks like a problem child, he looks like a problem if he’s not playing, he’ll throw his toys out of the pram if it’s not going too well for him.
“I think if you’ve got him on board and you’ve got your arm around him and everything else and if everything suits him, I think he’s a real big and good player.
“But is he big enough for Unai Emery to sort of go, ‘I’ll take him because I’ll be able to get the best out of him?'”
At age 22, time is certainly on Garnacho’s side to prove his doubters wrong and enjoy a prosperous career.
But that relies heavily on Emery successfully performing yet another revival act.
If the Villa boss can do just that, it might be one of his best managerial feats yet.
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