{"id":997808,"date":"2026-08-13T09:03:24","date_gmt":"2026-08-13T09:03:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/997808\/"},"modified":"2026-08-13T09:03:24","modified_gmt":"2026-08-13T09:03:24","slug":"chelsea-set-friday-deadline-for-manchester-city-to-make-120m-enzo-fernandez-offer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/997808\/","title":{"rendered":"Chelsea set Friday deadline for Manchester City to make \u00a3120m Enzo Fernandez offer"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chelsea have set a deadline of 5pm this coming Friday (12pm ET) for Manchester City to make an offer for midfielder Enzo Fernandez.<\/p>\n

The Athletic have previously reported<\/a> that City are interested in signing the 25-year-old midfielder.<\/p>\n

The west London club have said that, if their \u00a3120million ($161m) valuation of the player is not met by their deadline later this week, the Argentina international will not be leaving the club.<\/p>\n

Chelsea say that the deadline has been communicated to City and Fernandez\u2019s camp and that their valuation of the player has been confirmed to Fernandez\u2019s agent since May.<\/p>\n

As reported in The Athletic\u2019s Transfer DealSheet on August 11<\/a>, Fernandez enjoyed a strong relationship with Enzo Maresca when the now-City head coach was in charge at Chelsea, and that remains the case.<\/p>\n

Fernandez\u2019s future is still uncertain at the club, with Chelsea leaving him off the \u2018not for sale\u2019 list this summer. He was suspended by the club for two games in April for comments made while away on international duty, in which he criticised decisions by the hierarchy and appeared to flirt with a move to Real Madrid.<\/p>\n

Fernandez\u2019s agent Javier Pastore also spoke about the lack of progress in contract talks earlier in the year and there is no sign of a new agreement, with the Argentine\u2019s existing terms running until 2032.<\/p>\n

His midfield partner at Chelsea, Moises Caicedo, urged Fernandez, who had also been linked with a move to Real Madrid, to stay at Chelsea earlier this month.<\/p>\n

Why have Chelsea felt the need to do this?<\/p>\n

Analysis from Manchester City correspondent Simon Johnson<\/p>\n

Chelsea\u2019s first game of the season is under two weeks away, and understandably they do not want this saga dragging on for the rest of the month, therefore providing a big distraction.<\/p>\n

The club have been clear with their valuation of Fernandez from the get-go, so the message is quite simple: pay up or don\u2019t. They also do not want to be scrambling late in the window for a replacement.<\/p>\n

New manager Xabi Alonso has spoken to Fernandez since taking over and is happy to have him in his plans. Chelsea are also prepared to welcome him back into the fold after the events near the end of last season,\u00a0which included handing him a two-game ban for comments made in interviews about club decisions<\/a>, as well as appearing to flirt with Real Madrid.<\/p>\n

Chelsea believe he can thrive under Alonso\u2019s direction and want the circus around his future to end.<\/p>\n

Given the price Manchester City paid for Anderson (\u00a3116m) and Tottenham\u2019s \u00a3100m on Sandro Tonali, charging \u00a3120m for a World Cup winner will seem justified to those at Stamford Bridge.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\n Chelsea are prepared to welcome Fernandez back if an offer doesn\u2019t arrive. (Michael Steele\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n

Do City need him?<\/p>\n

Analysis from Manchester City correspondent Sam Lee<\/p>\n

That is a matter of debate among the fanbase!<\/p>\n

Maybe one of the mistakes people are making is thinking he\u2019s a Rodri replacement, though that is not really his game.<\/p>\n

He is a top player who performs a slightly different role, and while he is not the best out of possession, he has certain intangible qualities that are really useful. He\u2019s a clutch player and somebody who brings incredible intensity.<\/p>\n

While it would be very different from the Bernardo Silva and Rodri days, a midfield of Fernandez and Elliot Anderson is absolutely fascinating, even if it would lack some of the old control.<\/p>\n

In short, yes, they do need him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chelsea have set a deadline of 5pm this coming Friday (12pm ET) for Manchester City to make an…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":997809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[45],"tags":[2841,461,216,221,62,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-997808","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-argentina","tag-chelsea","tag-manchester-city","tag-soccer","tag-sports","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/997808","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=997808"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/997808\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/997809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=997808"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=997808"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=997808"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}