Chelsea are interested in signing Manchester United winger Alejandro Garnacho, according to journalist Fabrizio Romano

The Argentinian international has been linked with a switch to Stamford Bridge in recent days and, writing in his GiveMeSport column, Romano said it is “a story to watch” as we reach the end of the transfer window.

Garnacho has had interest from other teams, most notably from Napoli who are seeking a replacement for Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

It has even been reported that the Serie A league leaders tabled a £40m bid for the 20-year-old, which was rejected by the Red Devils. The player’s asking price is said to be closer to £70m.

Why do Chelsea want the United forward?

Mykhailo Mudryk has been given a provisional drugs ban so the Blues are short of options on the left flank.

Manager Enzo Maresca can only really call upon Jadon Sancho on that side of the pitch in Mudryk’s absence. He has deployed the likes of Joao Felix and Christopher Nkunku in that area on the odd occasion but it isn’t exactly their best position.

Garnacho would offer something different and he is a player with massive potential, as long as his attitude can be channelled in the right way.

Maresca wants more goals from wide areas

Speaking ahead of Chelsea’s game against Wolves on Monday night, the Chelsea head coach expressed his concern that his wingers are not scoring often enough:

“We can score more goals for the amount of times that we arrive and put our wingers in positions one-v-one in the box, like Pedro [Neto] and Jadon [Sancho]. Hopefully, they can start soon to score goals.

‘The important thing is that they arrive there in every game. In the last game against Bournemouth, Jadon and Noni [Madueke] arrived one-v-one inside the box many times. If we are clinical for sure it is better for the team, so if we can have our attacking players, our wingers, being more clinical it will be good.”

It is up for debate whether Garnacho would be any more clinical than the players currently at Maresca’s disposal. The United forward has scored 3 goals and provided 1 assist in 21 league appearances this season.

Find out who is in Chelsea’s first-team squad for the 2024/2025 season here