Xabi Alonso may have fallen for familiar and painful Liverpool transfer trap

Below is a summary of the full article. Click here for the full version from Liverpool.com or go back to LFC Live.

Chelsea's loan of Alejandro Garnacho to Aston Villa carries echoes of Liverpool's Harvey Elliott deal, which saw Villa avoid a buy clause by limiting his minutesLiverpool could hijack Xabi Alonso and Chelsea's transfer interest this summer(Image: (Photo by Aitor Alcalde - UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images))Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso's decision to loan out Alejandro Garnacho to Aston Villa this summer carries an uncomfortable echo of a deal that didn't work out for his former club, Liverpool, and Alonso may want to pay close attention to how it played out.Garnacho has joined Villa on a season-long loan from Chelsea, with the agreement including an obligation for a permanent transfer based on the number of appearances he makes for the club.It's a structure that, on paper, offers Chelsea a path to recoup value on a player who endured a difficult debut season at Stamford Bridge, scoring just eight goals in 43 appearances following his £40 million move from Manchester United, a stretch poor enough to cost him a place in Argentina's World Cup squad.But that same loan structure, appearance-based obligations to buy, has recently burned Liverpool with a strikingly similar case.Harvey Elliott spent last season on loan at Aston Villa, also with a buy clause attached, only for Villa to avoid triggering it by restricting him to just nine appearances across all competitions under manager Unai Emery.The 23-year-old returned to Liverpool this summer having barely played, with his development stalled and his long-term future left unresolved for another year.Xabi Alonso is Chelsea's new manager after a brief spell with Real Madrid(Image: Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)According to Football Insider, Elliott is now determined to fight for his place under new Liverpool manager Andoni Iraola rather than push for another move away.Elliott is expected to feature in Liverpool's preseason friendly against Sunderland, his first appearance for the club in close to a year.The parallel raises an obvious question for Chelsea and Alonso: what stops Villa from handling Garnacho's loan the same way they handled Elliott's, limiting his minutes just enough to sidestep the permanent obligation, particularly if the winger struggles to find consistent form early in the campaign?Harvey Elliott is back at Liverpool for now(Image: 2026 Liverpool FC)Villa has been busy rebuilding their squad this summer regardless, having already added Johan Manzambi from Freiburg for a club-record fee and Joao Gomes from Wolves, while also losing Amadou Onana to a ruptured ACL suffered at the World Cup with Belgium, injuries and depth issues that could either increase or reduce Garnacho's opportunities to reach his appearance threshold.The Garnacho deal was also part of a swap between the two clubs, with Chelsea signing Morgan Rogers from Villa in a separate $135 million transaction, a British transfer record.For Alonso, who joined Chelsea in May after choosing the club over a widely rumored return to Liverpool, where he played for five seasons and won the Champions League, the Garnacho situation represents an early test of Chelsea's recruitment and loan strategy under his management.Speaking about his decision to join Chelsea over Liverpool, Alonso said simply, "It is about timings," expressing confidence in the project he's building at Stamford Bridge. Whether that project includes getting full value out of Garnacho's loan to Villa may depend on avoiding the same pitfall that left Liverpool's Elliott arrangement delivering so little return.