Records with & without Fernández analysed
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Following what appeared externally to be somewhat of a tumultuous summer at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea have started life under new manager Enzo Maresca very steadily. Ever since Todd Boehly bought the club in 2022, the club has, without beating around the bush, been a chaotic mess. A 12th-place Premier League finish, a sixth-place finish, four different permanent managers and €1.33 billion spent fails to represent a very stable two years. However, under their new Italian boss, things on the pitch have finally began to show signs of consistency, and hints of progress are at long last rearing their head. Chelsea are fifth in the Premier League, one point behind Arsenal, and have only lost to Manchester City and Liverpool so far this season. But Maresca still faces one huge €121 million Argentinian headache.
Enzo Fernández became the Premier League’s most expensive player when Chelsea paid Benfica €121m for the midfielder on deadline day in January 2023. At the time, Fernández had played just 29 first-team games in Europe, and had only been signed by Benfica six months earlier for €44.25m. However, he was fresh off the back of starring for Argentina in their 2022 World Cup triumph in Qatar. The midfielder has failed to get anywhere near justifying that price-tag thus far in a Chelsea shirt, and doubts still remain over what is his best position. Right now it seems to be on the bench.
Fernández started Chelsea’s opening game of the season against Manchester City as captain – a decision which came under some scrutiny at the time due to Fernández being filmed chanting racist chants while away with Argentina over the summer, which he later apologised for. However, in the last two Premier League matches, Roméo Lavia, who spent the majority of last season injured, has started alongside Moisés Caicedo in midfield. Already in just two matches, the Belgian seems to have formed a more balanced partnership with the Ecuadorian, raising the question of what do Chelsea do with Fernández?
Player Comparison
Chelsea FC
Chelsea FC
€75.00m
Market Value
€35.00m
23
Age
20
Central Midfield
Position
Defensive Midfield
Jun 30, 2032
Contract until
Jun 30, 2030
Full Player Comparison
One of Fernández’s biggest issues since joining Chelsea has been that nobody seems to quite know what his best position is. According to Transfermarkt data, he has played 30 games as a defensive midfielder, 30 games as a central midfielder and ten games as an attacking midfielder for the Blues. The Argentine seems to have some deficiencies playing in all three midfield roles. He lacks the numbers when it comes to goals and assists to play as a no.10 – just zero goals and one assist in ten games in that position. He seems to lacks the defensive nouse to play as a lone no.6, and arguably lacks the engine required to play as a no.8 in the Premier League.
There’s no doubt Fernández has superb technical ability, but whether he fits into this Maresca Chelsea team is a whole different question. Following the Blues’ 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace, Maresca said, “I think it’s very difficult in the way we play to find a midfielder that can attack like an attacking midfielder and defend like a holding midfielder. At the moment, Enzo is the only one. When we have the ball, he is playing like an attacking midfielder, and is dropping next to Moi, when we don’t have the ball to help us and give us defensive balance. He is doing very good with us and the idea is to continue with that.” But that continuation did not come to fruition, and it’s hard to see how Cole Palmer could get the space he requires in the no.10 role, with Fernández, Lavia and Caicedo all in the team.
As the graphic above illustrates, not only does Fernández have a terrible record when starting for Chelsea, but things seem to significantly improve for the Blues without the Argentine in the original XI. Since he joined the club, he has won just 35% of the games he has started in all competitions. Without him in the side in that same time period, Chelsea have won 81% of their matches. The goals scored rises from 1.60 goals scored per game with Fernández to 2.48 without him, while the goals conceded falls from 1.55 goals conceded per game with Fernández to just 1.00 without him. All the metrics seem to point towards Chelsea being a more cohesive unit without their record signing in the starting XI.
Following his move to Stamford Bridge, and the small matter of winning the World Cup, Fernández’s market value rose to €85m in March 2023. That has since dropped back down to €75m, with that figure likely to drop further in the next Premier League market value update if he fails to get back in the Chelsea team. It highlights the reality, that, if the Blues were wanting to sell him on, they wouldn’t get anywhere near the astronomical fee they paid for the Argentine. However, Chelsea extended his contract back in April so that it now runs until 2032, suggesting moving him on is not at the forefront of the club’s thinking right now.
Chelsea have had a very positive start to the season and that shouldn’t be completely overshadowed, but when you have a player like Fernández losing value and reputation, struggling to get in the side, it bodes a big problem. It highlights that the club’s recent model of spending big money and handing out huge contracts can seriously backfire. Fernández has some fantastic abilities, and will no doubt get more opportunities to prove his worth in Chelsea’s midfield, but right now the Premier League’s record signing is just warming the bench, and his future looks uncertain.
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