Manchester City Set to Break Transfer Record Again for Enzo Fernandez

Manchester City are preparing to test Chelsea’s resolve with an opening bid for Enzo Fernandez before the transfer window slams shut, according to BBC Sport.

Chelsea have set a daunting starting price. The 25-year-old Argentina international is valued at a minimum of £120m, a fee that would make him the second-most expensive signing in Premier League history, behind Alexander Isak’s £125m move to Liverpool.

For Enzo Maresca, it is a gamble worth taking.

Maresca’s missing piece

City’s new manager views Fernandez as the cornerstone of his midfield rebuild, the player to stitch together a department that has been ripped apart in one summer. Maresca’s admiration is not new. He maintained a close relationship with the midfielder after his own acrimonious departure from Chelsea on New Year’s Day, months before he walked into the Etihad in June.

Now he wants Fernandez at the heart of his new project.

Landing him would see City break their transfer record for the second time in the same window. They have already gone to £116m to prise Elliot Anderson away from Nottingham Forest. Pushing beyond that again underlines just how desperate Maresca is to reshape the spine of his side.

Midfield exodus forces City’s hand

The urgency is easy to understand. City’s midfield has been gutted.

• Tijjani Reijnders has gone to Al-Qadsiah for £52m.
• Rodri, the metronome of their recent dominance, has joined Barcelona in a £65m deal.
• Nico Gonzalez has moved to Newcastle for £52m, while Bernardo Silva has finally secured his long-mooted switch to Real Madrid.

Four major departures. One gaping hole.

The response from City’s hierarchy has been aggressive. Fernandez is not just another name on a list; he is the headline act Maresca believes can restore control in domestic and European battles.

Fractured Chelsea relationship

On the other side of the deal sits a club and a player whose relationship has steadily deteriorated.

Tensions between Fernandez and Chelsea spiked after their Champions League exit to PSG in March. The midfielder did not hide his anger, voicing his frustrations openly as the season unravelled. Signed from Benfica for £107m in 2023, he was supposed to be a long-term pillar of Chelsea’s new era. Instead, he has spent much of 2024 at the centre of speculation.

He even explored a move to Real Madrid with his agent Javier Pastore, before the Spanish giants publicly distanced themselves from the rumours. The door to the Bernabeu shut. The questions about his future did not.

New Chelsea head coach Xabi Alonso met Fernandez privately in July, an attempt to reset the relationship and clarify his role. Alonso refused to reveal what was said behind closed doors, but the silence has only fuelled the sense that this is a fragile truce rather than a long-term solution.

High stakes on both sides

City now face a race against the clock. With the transfer deadline looming next week, they must convert long-standing admiration into a formal offer big enough to drag Chelsea to the table.

For Chelsea, selling Fernandez would be seismic. It would be their most high-profile departure since Eden Hazard left for Real Madrid in 2019, a statement that the club is willing to cash in on another marquee name if the price is right.

Alonso has to keep his squad locked in on crucial league fixtures while uncertainty swirls around one of his key midfielders. Lose Fernandez now, and he must reshape his plans on the fly.

Maresca, meanwhile, is pushing hard for the marquee signing he believes can reassert City’s authority at home and in Europe. If City put the money down and Chelsea finally blink, the balance of power in the Premier League midfield arms race could shift again in a single, eye-watering deal.