Unai Emery sparks Alejandro Garnacho U-turn after Man Utd and Chelsea swipe

Birmingham Mail · James Pallatt

Gabby Agbonalor is ready to trust “genius” Unai Emery over Alejandro Garnacho.

Agbonalor described the prospect of Garnacho joining Aston Villa as a “nightmare” and brutally labelled him a Manchester United and Chelsea “reject”.

But now the Argentine winger has arrived at Villa Park on loan from Chelsea he is determined to be “positive” and have faith Emery can get the best out of him.

Garnacho has joined Villa on a season-long loan from Chelsea.

The deal includes a conditional obligation for Villa to buy the 22-year-old for a fee understood to be around £43m, which will be triggered if he plays a certain number of matches in the new season.

"If there's ever a manager who can get extra out of a player, it's Unai Emery," Agbonlahor said on talkSPORT.

"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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