Under Erik ten Hag's stewardship at Man Utd, the Argentine appeared to flourish, with two particular highlights of his time at Old Trafford surely being the goal of the season he scored at Everton, and the first goal in the 2024 FA Cup final, which the Red Devils won against all odds.
Great for ten Hag, but not for Amorim
The Dutchman also appeared to make a great fuss of the youngster when tying him down to a long-term contract at the club, but once Ten Hag was dispensed with and Ruben Amorim arrived, Garnacho's card was marked.
There had been a variety of rumours as to why the player ended up as part of United's so-called 'bomb squad,' but it was quickly apparent that whatever the reason actually was, Amorim didn't fancy Garnacho.
A move to Chelsea appeared to be one that suited both manager and player; however, things quickly turned sour at the Blues, too.
In 43 appearances in all competitions, only four of which were for the full 90 minutes, and included the FA Cup game vs Hull and a Premier League fixture against basement boys Wolves, he managed eight goals and five assists.
Question marks over Chelsea stay
Compared to his output whilst at United, it was on par, though suggestions concerning the player's attitude were never far from being discussed.
Even before the end of the 2025/26 campaign and the subsequent appointment of Xabi Alonso, there were question marks over Garnacho's stay in West London, and now it would appear that his time at the club is indeed coming to an end.
According to reports, he hasn't been seen at pre-season training in readiness for the 2026/27 campaign, whilst Italian media have noted that Roma manager Gian Piero Gasperini wants to get the player on loan with an option to buy, in order to link him up with national team colleague Paulo Dybala.
Strasbourg's Diego Moreira is also on Gasperini's hit list, with both players being owned by Clearlake Capital.
Roma want a loan for Garnacho
Whilst it isn't clear if Clearlake will accede to a loan for Garnacho, perhaps preferring a straight purchase, are the Giallorossi actually wise to want to sign the 22-year-old?
Looking at his stats from the 2025/26 campaign, his goal and assist output was only improved upon by Cole Palmer, Pedro Neto, Enzo Fernandez and Joao Pedro, all of whom played significantly more minutes than the winger.
Only Neto (14) had more than Garnacho's 12 fast breaks in the entire first-team squad, with Fernandez and Estevao the only two players to hit the woodwork more than the three occasions in which the Argentine did so.
In terms of shot accuracy (50.91%) and shot conversion (10.53%), Garnacho wasn't the best, though he was far from being the worst, too.
Lack of output is evident
His total of 55 shots across the campaign was topped by Joao Pedro's 72 and Fernandez's 75, but no one else in the squad could match Garnacho's two braces. Not even the main strikers.
10 big chances missed ultimately would've hurt him in terms of squad selection, because had any of those gone in, the numbers would've looked very much more promising.
In terms of his pass completion, an 86.44% stat was more than acceptable, albeit his 682 attempted passes were way down on all of his colleagues, save for Estevao and Romeo Lavia, both of whom missed large parts of the season with injury.
Just 11 successful crosses from 85 attempted in open play (12.94%) is another stat that he shouldn't be particularly proud of either.
Last chance saloon for Garnacho?
76 ball recoveries and 50.67% one-on-one duel success won't have won him too many admirers in the dugout, as it indicates a clear lack of application in certain areas of his natural game.
19 tackles won from 30 attempted, to give a tackle success percentage of 63.33, is another misleading stat when you consider that some of his colleagues have lower percentages, but have been much more industrious.
Moises Caicedo is a case in point, given that he posted a tackle success rate of 52.34%, but actually made 128 tackles, virtually 100 more than Garnacho.
If Roma are going to get the best out of him, then Gasperini has to tap into the obvious talent that the player has.
Should the move occur and Garnacho, for all intents and purposes, fails again at the highest level, he may have to rethink his priorities if he genuinely believes he has what it takes to succeed.
One manager can be wrong about you, two at a push, but three...