Former FIFA referee and ex-PGMOL chief Keith Hackett has picked out Chelsea star Alejandro Garnacho as the worst diving offender in the Premier League.

Garnachojoined Chelsea from Manchester United in the summer for ￡40m after Red Devils manager Ruben Amorim told the winger to ‘find a new club’ after the relationship between the pair broke down at Old Trafford.

A player who often rubs people up the wrong way can often be seen throwing himself to the ground in a bid to win free-kicks or penalties and Hackett picked him out as the player in the English top flight simulating the most.

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He told Football Insider: “It’s a nightmare for the referee, I’m telling you, making those judgements as to whether, in fact, it is a dive or if it is actually a foul.

“I’d like to just highlight (Alejandro) Garnacho of Chelsea, because I think he’s a bit quick at going to ground and then moaning.

“Most players are brilliant, and we love to see them play football, but at the moment there are too many falling over.

“And of course, what we are seeing is, in terms of time in the game being lost…like Jordan Pickford in the England game (vs Serbia), going down, rubbing his thigh and then we have a tactical break, all of that is just a nonsense.

“That, added to deliberate timewasting and simulation, is part of a problem in the game at the moment, and is growing, I fear.”

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Garnacho has started slowly at Chelsea but impressed last time out with two excellent assists in the Blues’ 3-0 win over Wolves, and manager Enzo Maresca is delighted by his progress.

“He arrived here from another club where he was not training 100 per cent so his physical condition was not good. Slowly, slowly, now it’s better,” Maresca said.

“He’s doing very well on the ball but he’s doing very, very well off the ball. He knows that to play with us he has to be good on the ball and off the ball otherwise he’s not going to play. We are very happy with him at this moment.”

Garnacho has been Maresca’s preferred option on the left wing ahead of Jamie Gittens in the Premier League and will likely start their Saturday lunchtime clash against Burnley, with victory set to take them above Manchester City into second place before City’s trip to Newcastle.