Rodri is heading to Barcelona.
Bernardo Silva is already at Real Madrid.
And Manchester City’s midfield has suddenly developed a hole that Elliot Anderson alone cannot fill.
Enzo Maresca needs a solution.
And the name he has settled on is someone he knows better than almost anyone.
Manchester City make shock move for Chelsea World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez as Rodri departure triggers emergency transfer
According to the Independent, Manchester City are considering a move for Fernandez, with the Argentine World Cup winner open to joining his former manager at the Etihad and the club assessing the possibility of a late window move as Rodri’s expected departure to Barcelona intensifies the urgency.
The Maresca factor is central to everything.
Fernandez played under him at Chelsea.
He knows the system.
He knows what the Italian manager wants from the position he occupies.
Sources indicate the 25-year-old would be “keen on the move”, a detail that changes the dynamic considerably when the conversation reaches Chelsea.
But Chelsea are not making this easy.
They value Fernandez at £120 million, above what they paid for him in 2023.
Xabi Alonso is building his Chelsea rebuild around the Argentine and has no intention of letting him go to a direct Premier League title rival.
The context behind City’s move is a summer that has stripped the midfield bare.
Bernardo Silva to Real Madrid.
Rodri to Barcelona.
Elliot Anderson has arrived, but another option alongside him was always the plan.
Fernandez, who finished the World Cup sent off in the final defeat to Spain but was still Argentina’s second best player across the tournament, offers everything Manchester City need.
Goals from midfield.
Box-to-box energy.
Technical composure in the most demanding moments.
Whether £120 million can be agreed in the final weeks of the window is the only question standing between Maresca and a reunion.
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