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CHELSEA boss Enzo Maresca wanted another left winger, and the club have given him Alejandro Garnacho.

But is the Argentinian, with his inconsistency on the field and indiscipline off it, the right option?

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Garnacho, whose signing is set to be confirmed today after he watched the Blues take on Fulham, undoubtedly has bags of potential.

Aged 21, he has plenty of time to fulfil it.

At a fee of £40m, in a window where players have been going for really silly money, he does not represent a massive risk.

The question is whether Garnacho is better than what Chelsea already have or what they have let go in the course of an incredible summer of buying and selling.

Garnacho is set to duke it out with fellow new arrival Jamie Gittens to be Maresca’s first choice down the left.

The Blues boss said: “They are quite similar.

“When we are looking for a winger, we like wingers who are good in one-v-one, they are quite vertical, aggressive, they can attack, they can create something.

“Jamie is that profile. If Garnacho arrives, we will see.”

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Garnacho brings more competition for places in Chelsea’s well-stocked attack.

But when you compare his stats for last season to those of Gittens, it is not much of a contest.

Across most of the important categories, Gittens was better: goals, assists, dribbles, chance conversion and so on.

There are two points to consider, however. Firstly, Gittens had a great time in front of goal last season, outperforming his expected goals significantly.

Meanwhile Garnacho had a particularly bad time when it came to converting big chances.

Secondly, there is the Jadon Sancho factor.

While Sancho was playing for Borussia Dortmund – as Gittens was last season – the then England manager Gareth Southgate was asked frequently about his form and whether he deserved more game time.

Without ever actually saying, “Lads, it’s the Bundesliga”, Southgate made it pretty clear that doing well in Germany’s top flight was one thing, but reproducing that form in the Premier League and at international level was quite another.

Maresca was not impressed with Gittens’ PL debut against Crystal Palace, hooking him after 54 minutes and putting him on the bench for the 5-1 thrashing of West Ham.

Yet it would be harsh to judge Gittens so soon.

Interestingly, too, Sancho’s stats while he was on loan at Chelsea last season stand up pretty well to Garnacho’s for United in some categories.

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Sancho seemed to enjoy being away from the toxicity of Old Trafford and Maresca said: “We had Jadon with us and he had a very good season.

“Again, if we finish top four and we achieve what we achieved, it’s also because of Jadon.

“Now with Garnacho, in case [if] he will arrive, we will see.”

That phrase again – we will see.

Noni Madueke, sold to Arsenal by the Blues earlier this summer, outperformed both Sancho and Garnacho last season.

Madueke, of course, plays primarily as a right winger. But on output alone, Chelsea seem to have got rid of a more potent attacking player than Garnacho.

And looking at Pedro Neto’s numbers, you wonder whether the Blues would have been better keeping Madueke.

Garnacho’s statistics for United in 2023/4 were in many cases better than in 2024/5, but not to a spectacular degree.

The Argentinian has it all to prove on the pitch.

He will also need to be careful off it.

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Garnacho infuriated United this summer with his habit of sending not-very-subtle messages of defiance through social media.

The Blues boss said: “We are in an era where I look like the strange one, because I don’t use social networks.

“I have a company that runs my Instagram but I don’t use it. I look strange because I don’t use it.

“But the normal situation in this era is that everyone uses it. I’m not going to tell them, don’t use that.

“First of all, because they have family around them that can give them advice.

“I have four kids and try to give them advice.

“But if I have to give 25 more players advice, it’s too complicated.

“Anyone can do what they want, anyone can say what they want, but in the end it’s a matter of respect.”

Garnacho may find Maresca and Chelsea intolerant of mischief-making on social media and other disruptive behaviour.

And he only has to look at the turnover of players at Stamford Bridge to know what will happen if he does not deliver.

Jacob Ramsey is a player Newcastle United’s coaching team “loved” from afar.

Ramsey is athletic, versatile and hungry to get better – and it is not hard to envisage the 24-year-old developing further under Eddie Howe.

This will have been an emotional move for Ramsey, a boyhood Aston Villa fan who had been on the club’s books since the age of six.

But it felt instructive that the midfielder referenced the pull of working with Howe after completing his move to St James’ Park.

Anthony Gordon, Dan Burn, Lewis Hall and Tino Livramento have all become full England internationals after an extended period working with Howe and his staff.

Do not rule out Ramsey following in the quartet’s footsteps.

Newcastle may be well-stocked in the middle of the park and out on the left, but it is not hard to envisage Ramsey playing his part given the depth the club will need to fight on four fronts this season.

It was a frustrating start to the window for Newcastle, but Howe has now brought in Ramsey, Anthony Elanga, Malick Thiaw and Aaron Ramsdale to increase competition in some key areas.

The one position that still needs to be addressed, though, is up front.

Newcastle already needed a goalscorer following Callum Wilson’s departure last month and it fell to Anthony Gordon to lead the line in Alexander Isak’s continued absence on the opening day.

Brentford star Yoane Wissa remains one to watch.

Nick Mashiter, BBC Sport

It is a deal Aston Villa and Unai Emery would have preferred not to have done in an ideal world.

However, this is not that world but one in which teams must abide by profit and sustainability rules, and finances are tight at Villa Park.

A youth product like Ramsey would always be the asset to sell to generate pure profit and £40m will undoubtedly help Villa comply with the rules.

It was the same last year when they had to sell Douglas Luiz despite qualifying for the Champions League.

It would be churlish to call Villa purely a selling club now but they are not immune to financial pressures, as has been obvious over the past 18 months, and the failure to reach the Champions League this season will naturally have an effect.

Emery was a fan of Ramsey – he would have like to have kept him – but the manager is living in reality. He knows the landscape Villa must navigate, even if it may seem rocky.

Striker Evann Guessand has joined from Nice and there are likely to be more arrivals, perhaps even the return of Marco Asensio after his successful loan last season, but Villa must continue to outthink the bigger spenders.

AN ENTREPRENEUR whose restaurant idea was rejected as “a disaster” on Dragons’ Den is set to open 100 new outlets of his popular chain.

Alessandro Savelli, who co-founded Pasta Evangelists and currently serves as its CEO, says the chain is aiming to become the UK’s “fastest-growing, casual dining hot spot”.

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Now worth around £40 million, Pasta Evangelists was rejected on Dragons’ Den by business experts in 2018 when Savelli and co-founder Finn Lagun asked for a £75,000 investment for a 2.5 per cent cut of the company.

Dragon Jenny Campbell even called Finn “delusional” and “a disaster” during their pitch.

However, the entrepreneurs have no doubt had the last laugh as their business is now set for major expansion.

Pasta Evangelists says it will invest £30 million into new restaurants, creating up to 1,500 jobs.

It hopes to open 100 new restaurants across the UK in the next five years, including in the south of England, the Midlands, and Scotland.

The company is also aiming to develop a “Pasta Apprenticeship” scheme to attract new staff and help the current workforce develop new skills and knowledge, reports The Grocer.

Savelli said: “The demand for our fresh, beautifully cooked artisan pasta is growing.

“Our intention is to become the UK’s fastest-growing, casual dining hot spot and the hottest place to eat for pasta lovers of all ages.

“Sustainable growth has always been our plan.

“The hospitality industry is going through tough times at the moment, but we are confident that our business model is robust and dynamic, and the proof of this is we have already bucked the trend with the confirmed opening of five more restaurants in the space of three months, and more to come.”

The chain opened a restaurant in Farringdon, central London, this summer as well as its first outside of the capital in Guildford in July.

Three new London locations are set to open in the coming weeks, helping carry the total number of outlets to 11 as we head into autumn.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the plans were “great news” and highlighted the “dynamism and resilience of British businesses”.

The restaurant has had a remarkable success story since its Dragons’ Den miss.

Recalling their appearance on the BBC show, Finn said he was “shaking life a leaf” before walking out to pitch his business.

He added that he was left devastated by the business experts’ “vicious” comments.

Speaking to The Sun in 2023, he said: “I never would have expected to be called a ‘disaster’ or ‘delusional‘ on national TV – they were vicious things to say to a young entrepreneur.

“To use that kind of language against a young, passionate person was dismaying. I would never talk to any young entrepreneur like that.”

Despite their lack of faith in the business, the Dragons are no doubt feeling red in the face now as Pasta Evangelists is one of the UK’s biggest fresh pasta companies.

It has also earned the highest praise from many voices, including chef Gordon Ramsay.

SCARRED BY EXPERIENCE ON DRAGONS’ DEN

While Pasta Evangelists has gone on to huge success, Finn says he’s still scarred by his experience in the Den.

“We received an extremely strong, negative, visceral reaction,” he says.

“I was 24 years old when I went on Dragons’ Den, so for a seasoned entrepreneur like Jenny Campbell to call me ‘delusional’ and a ‘disaster’ was so vicious… Jenny was savage.

“At one point she said, ‘I like it’ and I replied, ‘Thank you’, only for her to say, ‘I like it because it’s a brilliant business lesson in how not to set up and run a business’.

“I was mortified, I felt like an idiot having grinned at her and thanked her. She was deliberately trying to take me for a ride for entertainment.”

Finn adds: “I don’t want to sound like the Virgin Mary but if the tables were turned and I was Jenny Campbell, I would have apologised.

“If I saw the business had turned into the UK’s biggest pasta company in a few years I’d say, ‘Well done, you defied expectations’ and maybe even offer a little contrition or an apology.”

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