It’s official, James Garner has left Manchester United permanently

Everton has announced the permanent signing of James Garner from Manchester United for a £9 million initial fee with £6.5 in add-ons. The Toffees won the race for the talented young midfielder ahead of Leicester City and Southampton who also were interested. Garner completed his medical exams yesterday and signed until June 2027 after both clubs reached an agreement.

The 21-year-old midfielder will leave Manchester United after joining the Red Devils’ academy when he was only 8 years old. He progressed through all the ranks in the academy being considered one of the most promising young players at the club. He even made his senior debut in February 2019 against Crystal Palace when he was only 17 years old.

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Unfortunately, he didn’t play too much for United and was loaned out to Watford in 2020 for six months. After that, he spent the last year and a half on loan at Nottingham Forest, where he became a regular on the team sheet and played a crucial part in the team securing the promotion to the Premier League 23 years later.

Last season, he played 49 games with the Tricky Trees where he surprisingly managed to score 4 goals and made 10 assists playing as a defensive midfielder. He returned to Old Trafford after his loan ended but didn’t feature a lot during pre-season under the new manager Erik ten Hag due to a couple of injuries. For that reason, the coach and the club decided to sell him.

They might regret this

Every single Manchester United fan was surprised by the fact that James Garner was transfer-listed and not loan-listed. Despite first reports, the Red Devils’ board didn’t add a buy-back clause in his contract, but they did add a 20% sell-on clause which entitles United to 20% of the profit if Everton sells him in the future, as per James Ducker from The Telegraph.