Jamie Carragher has blasted Alejandro Garnacho for ‘playing on his phone’ while watching his new side Chelsea in action from the stands.
After being exiled from the Manchester United first-team by Ruben Amorim, Garnacho completed his £40million move to Stamford Bridge in the final days of the summer transfer window.
Despite interest from elsewhere in the Premier League with Bayern Munich also making an approach, the Argentina international was determined to join Chelsea, one of their 10 new signings.
The 21-year-old watched on from the stands as his new side sealed a slightly fortuitous 2-0 victory over Fulham in their west London derby.
Seven minutes into the match, the television cameras cut to the winger who was busy looking down at his phone at that moment.
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Carragher was among those to spot it with the Liverpool legend not impressed.
Carragher was sat alongside Roy Keane with the pair rating the Premier League’s biggest transfers as a hit, miss or too early to tell for Sky Sports.
Carragher branded Garnacho a miss despite not playing for his new club yet, adding: ‘You know what I didn’t like? Did you see the game [Chelsea vs Fulham], when they go to the people in the stands and they are on their phones with the game going on.
‘I can’t stand it. And it’s not just him [Garnacho] by the way, but I can’t stand it.
‘So it’s a miss for that!’ Carragher joked. ‘For sitting on his phone during an important game for Chelsea.’
Garnacho will be competing for a spot in the first-team with fellow summer signing Jamie Gittens who Enzo Maresca has said is ‘similar’ to the former United star.
Estevao Willian, Pedro Neto and Tyrique George are also competing for wide roles with Chelsea legend Joe Cole insisting Garnacho must immediately ‘knuckle down’ and expect a fight for his place.
‘There’s levels to go up for Garnacho,’ Cole told TNT Sports. ‘I think it’s a good price for Chelsea. There are question marks on the lad. I don’t know him, but the ins and outs and the things that come out from his camp and how he’s handled being dropped at Manchester United, I think that needs to improve.
Cole added: ‘If he wants to knuckle down and become a top player that he can become, he needs to come to a good environment, which I think Chelsea is, and grow from there. But there’s lots of competition for those wide positions.’
