I like it when footballers have that arrogance, that confidence of “I’m one of the best in the world”, that they can decide a game at any moment. That’s important, but there’s a clear difference between confidence and arrogance: it’s what you can actually produce on the pitch, because thinking and talking is easy, the hard part is showing it game after game.
When you look at names like Cristiano Ronaldo, Vini Jr or Mbappé, you see that mentality, but you also see output. They back up that confidence with what they do on the pitch. In Garnacho’s case, that’s the issue: he has that mentality, which isn’t a bad thing, but right now he doesn’t have the football to match it.
There are many, many games where he simply can’t make the difference. He keeps trying, but doesn’t deliver and it doesn’t make sense to blame Manchester United for having “sold” him as the next big star. That’s a weak excuse. Of course the context matters, but in the end it will always depend more on the player and the people around him.
And being direct: Man United didn’t get it wrong by selling him.
Because right now, he isn’t justifying that level of confidence. And you can even see it in his impact on the pitch. In the Chelsea vs Man United game, he managed to frustrate both teams and that says a lot about the phase he’s in.
This doesn’t mean he doesn’t have quality. He clearly does. He’s in the top 1% of football at his peak. But within that level, there are big differences and Garnacho is still far from being a Cristiano Ronaldo or a Mbappé.
Maybe the best thing for him is to take a step back, establish himself more as the team’s technical reference and start showing, consistently, that he can reach that level. Because the potential is there. The question is aligning what he thinks of himself with what he actually shows on the pitch.
And he still has time. He’s only 21. It’s also important to understand that not every environment helps and Chelsea, just like Manchester United wasn’t, may not be the ideal setting for that development.
Conclusion
There’s a clear difference between what Garnacho thinks he is and what he shows on the pitch. And there’s nothing wrong with having that confidence, quite the opposite, it’s something common among the best. The difference is that those players back it up with consistent performances.
Garnacho still doesn’t. He has quality, he has the mentality, but he still needs to turn that into real impact game after game.