🇦🇷 8. Enzo Fernandez

[Mário César 1,364]

Tbh, if a good offer arrive, he can go

[DH1988 1,356]

What was the halftime tantrum about? Anyone know?

[YorkshireBlue 3,308]

3 minutes ago, DH1988 said:

What was the halftime tantrum about? Anyone know?

From the tiny clip I’ve seen it looks like a mountain is being made out of a mole hole 

[NikkiCFC 8,432]

 

[Vesper 30,461]

Enzo Fernandez is crucial for Chelsea – the numbers and Maresca’s selections prove it

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6816605/2025/11/19/enzo-fernandez-Chelsea-analysis-report/

 

Enzo Fernandez has been able to take a rare rest during this international break because of a knee injury. The Chelsea midfielder certainly needed a breather.

To suggest Fernandez has had a lot of football over the past three years is an understatement.

Since his final season with boyhood club River Plate of Buenos Aires got underway in February 2022, the Argentina international has made 221 appearances for club (also including Portugal’s Benfica and current employers Chelsea) and country.

This is a player that successive Chelsea head coaches have been reluctant to be without following his £106million ($139.3m at the current rate) move from Benfica in January 2023. Nobody has played more than his 131 games for the west London club in that time. Moises Caicedo (112) and Marc Cucurella (106) are his closest challengers among the current squad.

Their current head coach Enzo Maresca has certainly leant heavily on the now 24-year-old — Fernandez has played in 69 of the 81 games the Italian has had as Chelsea manager.

He has missed just two of the 52 matches Chelsea have played across six competitions this calendar year through injury — against Wolverhampton Wanderers in January and the visit to Nottingham Forest last month. Of the four other occasions when Fernandez did not feature, he was an unused substitute for three of the games so will still have had an active role in the squad’s preparations for them.

The only time Maresca left Fernandez out entirely that was not injury-related was the second leg of the UEFA Conference League quarter-final at home to Legia Warsaw seven months ago, when Chelsea had won the first leg in Poland 3-0.

Fernandez was leading the way for most minutes played across the Chelsea squad this season until Caicedo’s early introduction as a substitute against Qarabag in the Champions League early this month, after Romeo Lavia had to go off with a quad problem. As you can see from the table below, the margin between them at the top is small.

The two men have more in common than just playing in Chelsea’s midfield regularly. Caicedo has also had to live with the pressure of being one of the most expensive players in the game, having arrived from Brighton & Hove Albion for a fee worth up to £115million in August 2023. That move meant he replaced Fernandez as Chelsea’s record buy.

However, while Caicedo is now finally being regarded, both within Stamford Bridge and by outside observers, as one of the best players in the Premier League, the level of Fernandez’s contribution still divides opinion, including among the Chelsea fanbase.

 

The video Fernandez posted in summer 2024 of him and his Argentina team-mates singing a chant about the heritage of French players after the nation’s Copa America final win over Colombia, which the French Football Federation (FFF) called “unacceptable, racist and discriminatory”, has certainly affected his public perception.

Fernandez apologised publicly, in private and in person to his Chelsea team-mates — Wesley Fofana branded the song “uninhibited racism” in a now-deleted X post. Fofana later said Fernandez was “not racist” but hoped the incident “educated him”.

On the pitch, there have also certainly been games where Fernandez has not been at his best and has looked laboured. The amount of football he has played, let alone the impact travelling to South America to play for Argentina and back to Europe several times per year has on mind and body, does not seem to get taken into account when you are a £100million-plus player.

The knee problem he’s been managing in recent months is not the only injury he has suffered, either. He missed the final six games of the 2023-24 season after surgery on a groin issue that had been causing him discomfort for months (he recovered quickly and started four of Argentina’s six matches at the Copa America that June and July and came off the bench in another).

Chelsea’s squad has also gone through an extraordinary rebuild during his near three years at Stamford Bridge. This is obviously going to take some toll on an individual’s form, due to needing to build understandings and partnerships with team-mates. Fernandez has also played under four different head coaches in that time (Graham Potter, Frank Lampard, Mauricio Pochettino and Maresca).

In a rare interview shown this week by Saudi digital platform Koora Break, Fernandez appeared to refer to these extensive comings and goings, but made it clear that things are now as positive as they have ever been.

He said: “I went through an incredible process here at the club with many changes, and well, today I feel very good with a group of people who are my team-mates, with whom I share every day, with the coaching staff. The truth is that I feel very happy today.”

Fernandez’s happiness can be seen in his output.

The following chart shows players from the current squad with the most goal involvements (goals and assists) in 2025. I’ll give you one guess who is top.

Granted, Cole Palmer’s chances to add to his tally have been greatly hindered by injury this season — he has played in four of Chelsea’s 17 matches — but it is still some achievement for the Argentinian.

It is not as if his contributions have all come in minor fixtures. For example, there were key goals in wins over Tottenham and Liverpool on the Premier League run-in, which helped Chelsea secure a fourth-place finish and so qualify for this season’s Champions League. He also scored the crucial equaliser against Real Betis of Spain in the eventual 4-1 Conference League final victory.

Under summer 2024 appointment Maresca, Fernandez has been encouraged to get forward a lot more.

While no one can match the standards or figures Chelsea’s most celebrated No 8, Lampard, achieved (he remains the club’s all-time leading goalscorer with 211), there are occasional similarities. Fernandez provides a similar threat from that position with his late runs into the box.

There were no goal involvements from him in Chelsea’s two most recent league wins against Spurs and Wolves, but anyone who watched those games should have noticed he was one of the most influential players on the pitch. Fernandez is also one of the main leaders in the dressing room and regularly captains Chelsea when Reece James is not on the pitch.

Maresca is clearly a huge admirer, and has said as much during media interviews.

Fernandez let teenage newcomer Estevao take the second penalty Chelsea were awarded in the 5-1 Champions League victory against Ajax last month, despite being their recognised first-choice for that job. This gesture drew particular praise, because it set an example for the bond Maresca wants to forge among his players.

The coach said: “It was very, very good. I told the players after the game that for sure we were very happy about the winning, about the three points. But the main thing about that game was Enzo, when he gave the ball to Estevao, we got to show how the team is in this moment, how they are all together in terms of togetherness, in terms of effort. This is what we need if we want to try to do something important.”

Chelsea are also very happy with Fernandez.

There’s an awareness among sources within the club, who asked to be kept anonymous to protect relationships, that he has improved the most of any player under Maresca. He is regarded by the same sources as being a perfect system-fit for how the Italian wants his team to play.

With Chelsea having high-profile games against Barcelona and Arsenal in the next two weeks, they will provide further opportunities for Fernandez to show just how important he has become.