'Sour would be an understatement' - fan on possible Garnacho exit

A week of the January transfer window remains and the focal point of Manchester United's potential business is Alejandro Garnacho to Chelsea.

How has it come to this? How has the Glazers' financial mismanagement reached a point where United could be ready to hand a main rival to one of their biggest academy successes in recent history?

The thing is, I get it. Ruben Amorim needs players who are already suited to the system he is attempting to instil - not those who could fit in a few years.

History has taught us that United's post-Sir Alex Ferguson managers do not get that long.

A move to Napoli would be reluctantly acceptable. While I do not believe £60m represents Garnacho's true value, it is enough to recruit a top-class replacement who will instantly upgrade Amorim's firepower.

However, gift-wrapping the 20-year-old and shipping him off to Stamford Bridge would be the latest of many mistakes in the first year of Sir Jim Ratcliffe's regime.

Watching Garnacho shine for Chelsea in the coming years would taste sour enough after the time and resources United have committed to his development since 2020.

But if Chelsea pocket twice as much as they paid for the Argentine when he inevitably realises his potential and Europe's powerhouses come calling? Sour would be an understatement.

Youth, courage, success. Three words that United take pride in plastering over their stadium, training facilities and kits.

But this deal would prove that the value of all three is rapidly deteriorating - just like many other aspects that make this club what it is.

Find more from Alex Turk at Stretford Paddock