Chelsea have agreed a £40m fee to sign Manchester United forward Alejandro Garnacho.
The 21-year-old Argentina international was told to find a new club by head coach Ruben Amorim at the end of last season.
Sources from United say the initial Chelsea offer was £25m, but Garnacho’s transfer – which includes a 10% sell-on clause – will now be the club’s fourth largest ever sale after Cristiano Ronaldo, Romelu Lukaku and Angel di Maria.
Chelsea will have spent more than £500m, including add-on clauses, on wingers in just over three years since Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital bought the club.
It will be more than £650m with strikers included – again with add-ons – but there have been significant player sales, with Chelsea likely to fully balance the books this summer on departures.
Garnacho’s move comes as forward Christopher Nkunku, 27, closes in on a move from Chelsea to AC Milan.
Senegal striker Nicolas Jackson is also in talks over an initial loan switch to Bayern Munich, which could include an obligation to buy the 24-year-old.
Player sales are important to Chelsea this summer because of Uefa sanctions, which included a fine of 31m euros (£26.7m), but also a requirement to maintain a “positive transfer balance” in this window to register new signings for the Champions League.
The imminent transfer of Nkunku for an initial £32m means the Blues will have banked at least £263.2m – minus add-ons and future fees – which is a Premier League record for player sales in a summer window.
They had already surpassed their previous highest total of £215.9m, set in 2023, prior to the confirmation of the Frenchman’s departure.
Garnacho held talks with Chelsea in January when his priority became a move to Stamford Bridge and United initially wanted £60m for him.
As a homegrown player, having joined United’s youth system from Atletico Madrid as a 16-year-old in 2020, the fee will also be important towards meeting the Premier League’s Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR).
The Old Trafford club have already spent £200m on a new forward line of Benjamin Sesko, Matheus Cunha and Bryan Mbeumo.
Garnacho’s last competitive game for United was May’s Europa League final – after which he questioned Amorim’s decision not to start him in 1-0 defeat by Tottenham.
Although he did go on the club’s post-season tour of Asia, he was not selected for the three-match summer trip to the United States.
Garnacho was ordered to train at different times to Amorim’s squad, along with fellow outcasts Tyrell Malacia, Jadon Sancho, Antony and Marcus Rashford, who subsequently joined Barcelona on loan.
When asked about the player’s future in Chicago, boss Amorim said “sometimes things don’t work out”.
