So, the deadline is ready. Friday 5pm. If Enzo Maresca is so eager on his reunion with Enzo Fernandez, he has till then to make his transfer. Oh, and it’ll be £120million please.
Relations between the 2 membership have been higher. Maresca resigned as Chelsea supervisor in January along with his coronary heart set on the Metropolis job and his former workforce couldn’t even carry themselves to seek advice from him by identify once they launched a scathing assertion in June to verify they’d agreed compensation that meant he may substitute Pep Guardiola on the Etihad Stadium.
So, what would Metropolis get for his or her £120million in the event that they select to pay up? Effectively, what some may name a ‘character’.
One who will get himself despatched off in a World Cup ultimate, one who tries to get his Chelsea team-mate Marc Cucurella despatched off for Argentina in the identical sport. One who was regularly booked for dissent all through the season, one who taunted England followers by cupping his ears after his equaliser within the World Cup semi-final, and one, most damningly, who was accused by his personal club-mates of racism after live-streaming himself and team-mates chanting after Argentina gained the Copa America two years in the past.
Maresca, although, will get a participant he trusts greater than another. And if he’s to succeed, he’ll want gamers he can belief. It stated rather a lot that regardless of the racism row in 2024, Maresca nonetheless handed Fernandez the captain’s armband for the Premier League season opener towards Metropolis.
Maresca joked lately that Erling Haaland couldn’t probably be his captain at Metropolis as a result of he calls for that his skipper race over to him after each aim to obtain recent directions, except it was the captain who scored it. Haaland would clearly rating too many. At Chelsea, although, even when membership captain Reece James was on the pitch, Maresca would typically nonetheless name Fernandez over as soon as they scored.
So, what would Manchester Metropolis get for his or her £120million in the event that they select to pay up for Enzo Fernandez? Effectively, what some may name a ‘character’
It is a participant who bought himself despatched off in a World Cup ultimate. One who tried to get his Chelsea team-mate Marc Cucurella despatched off for Argentina in the identical sport
Fernandez was so typically Chelsea’s engine room. Final season, albeit one Maresca left midway by means of, the membership ranked all-time low for the way far their gamers ran within the Premier League but Fernandez sat inside the highest 10 for distance lined individually.
Throughout Maresca’s 18 months on the membership, nobody performed extra league matches for Chelsea than Fernandez and solely Mo Salah and Bruno Fernandes created extra probabilities from open play throughout the division.
It seems to be like Maresca should tackle essentially the most daunting succession in world soccer with out essentially the most influential midfielder in Metropolis’s current historical past, Rodri. Barcelona are deep in talks over bringing him again to his homeland.
With out essentially the most dependable metronome in world soccer, Maresca goes to have to search out one other solution to make Metropolis’s midfield tick.
The membership have already paid £116million for Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest however he alone isn’t sufficient. Metropolis are additionally in talks to signal Morocco’s £85million World Cup star Ayyoub Bouaddi, who’s an excellent ball-winner and tidy on the ball. Fernandez definitely isn’t a like-for-like substitute.
Each are vastly authoritative and dominant however in numerous methods. Like Rodri, Fernandez is all the time on the coronary heart of his workforce’s attacking play however extra regularly on the enterprise finish of it.
In his full season beneath Maresca in 2024-25, he performed an element in 200 attacking strikes that resulted in a Chelsea shot, both taking it himself, creating the possibility, or being part of the build-up. Practically 60 per cent of them had been him having the shot or setting it up. Amongst midfielders final season, too, he ranked first for anticipated objectives.
Against this, Rodri’s affect within the earlier 2023-24 marketing campaign, the one earlier than he suffered his severe damage, was such that whereas he topped the listing for involvements in his aspect’s attacking play, solely 37 per cent of them had been pictures or probabilities he created.
Throughout Maresca’s 18 months on the membership, nobody performed extra league matches for Chelsea than Fernandez and solely Mo Salah and Bruno Fernandes created extra probabilities from open play
In Maresca’s solely full season at Chelsea, Fernandez was concerned in attacking play as a lot as any participant bar Cole Palmer
Rodri was additionally closely concerned in Metropolis’s offensive work – however earlier on within the build-up
That season, Rodri averaged greater than twice as many passes as Fernandez in 2024-25 and at a far increased completion fee with greater than 3 times as many splitting opposition defensive strains.
The Chelsea man, nevertheless, was rather more direct when he bought the ball, enjoying a better proportion of his passes ahead than Rodri and extra of them into the field. Unsurprisingly, Fernandez commits extra fouls.
As one colleague who watches Fernandez typically put it: ‘Rodri is just like the dishwasher, retains all the things good and clear. Enzo then smashes these dishes.’
One of many largest variations, and one which Maresca will hope to take advantage of, is Fernandez’s excellent knack of crashing into the field. Rodri averages lower than half a run into the penalty space per sport. Fernandez normally makes at the very least 5, and so they regularly find yourself with him scoring.
Like one other Chelsea star who made the transfer to Metropolis, he’s Lampard-esque in his capability to search out the online following his late runs into the field.
See these examples under, starting with a visit to Burnley in November, when he bursts ahead late as team-mate Marc Guiu prices into the field.
With Burnley’s Josh Cullen (24) distracted by the ball, Fernandez is ready to dash previous on his blind aspect, get to the cutback earlier than him, and strike a first-time shot into the online
Towards Brighton, Joao Pedro drops deep to gather the ball, drawing defenders. The ball is performed out to Reece James on the suitable and Fernandez will get on to the top of a cross to go it in
Towards Liverpool on the finish of the 2024-25 season, Fernandez requires the ball from Pedro Neto, who cuts it again, by which era Fernandez is there to gather it, take a contact and rating
When Rodri was match and at his peak, Guardiola prefered to make use of him as a single midfield pivot in a position to give others like Bernardo Silva the liberty to roam ahead, protected within the information that Rodri was there to wash up any mess. When he wasn’t match, Guardiola would typically swap to a two-man midfield.
Maresca has performed the identical in pre-season with Mateo Kovacic and Tijjani Reijnders there towards Atletico Madrid in South Korea. The previous sitting, the latter primed to burst ahead. It is going to be attention-grabbing to see which of these slots, if any, Anderson takes towards Arsenal within the Neighborhood Protect on Sunday.
When it comes to model, Fernandez is rather more much like out-of-favour Metropolis midfielder Reijnders, who seems to be set to go away for Saudi aspect Al Qadsiah. In the event you examine their warmth maps (under), they’re each at their most content material getting on the ball within the channels.
Rodri proved on the World Cup that he nonetheless has what it takes to be one of the best participant on the largest stage, however a lot of the match was performed at a slower tempo because of the warmth and altitude in america, Canada and Mexico. That allowed him to thrive.
The Premier League is a much less forgiving panorama with monsters simpler today than metronomes.
So, if he’s to depart, Maresca appears to have discovered his solution to substitute him. It’ll solely price them greater than £300million to do it.
