Manchester City hope that Chelsea will forget their ignorance of an Enzo Fernandez transfer deadline, as Enzo Maresca reportedly sees the Argentine as his No. 1 target.
Fabrizio Romano says that City are in “daily club to club contact with Enzo’s camp,” but notes that Chelsea will only sell if they they can improve their team.
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Fernandez subbed into Chelsea’s Week 1 match against Fulham in the 65th minute and was booed with every touch of the ball. Blues fans even cheered the first time he was tackled by a Fulham player.
“In football I am not surprised by anything,” Xabi Alonso said when asked about Fernandez’s play and the frosty reception. “We will see. I’m not sure what’s going to happen in the future.”
How does that affect this situation, if at all? Chelsea had slapped a reported $160 million price on the 25-year-old Fernandez. That price is unlikely to go down, especially with the Blues knowing they paid about the same thing for a less-proven Morgan Rogers.
Will Chelsea sell Enzo Fernandez to Manchester City?
Presuming City offer a fee near to their $120 million asking price, would Chelsea sanction a sale that comes after their self-imposed deadline for a Fernandez transfer?
Would they sell a World Cup winner inside of the Premier League to a top-four (or top-five) rival?
Romano’s note about Chelsea only selling Fernandez if they they can improve their team doesn’t seem to describe a crystal clear situation.
Xabi Alonso has a lot of midfield options at his disposal and no European fixture congestion. Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia, Jordan Henderson, Valentin Barco, and Dario Essugo could normally be enough to compete on all fronts, especially with Reece James filling Fernandez’s role against Fulham.
But Lavia and James both have cloudy injury history, so surely Alonso would wangt a reinforcement should Fernandez skip town.
For City, the move makes sense, especially after selling Rodri and Savinho while seeing something coming back for Omar Marmoush.
If we’re living in a world where $160 million transfers aren’t going to involve prime Lionel Messi or Neymar, paying that fee to reunite an integral component with his manager connects more than a few wires.
Fernandez was a record signing for Chelsea at the end of the winter deadline in 2023. This would represent a profit, but the question is whether Chelsea should sanction a move, even for that fee, that strengthens a team it hopes to leapfrog on the table.
There’s a bit of “game is gone” here because there was a time where this sort of move between rivals would be absurd to consider 995 times out of 100. But business-wise Chelsea can look to its team and see a strong midfield and hope its scouting department has a replacement in mind who is half the cost of a Fernandez.
