Manchester City will be significantly lighter in the pocket after agreeing to a record tying £125 million ($169M) deal with Chelsea to acquire Enzo Fernandez on Tuesday.
The deal, which is currently pending the results of a medical, ties the previous Premier League record which was set when Liverpool acquired Alexander Isak from Newcastle last summer. Fernandez doubled down on his desire for a fresh start elsewhere in recent weeks, which paved the way for City to swoop in and get a deal across the finish line within the last 48 hours.
Once completed, it will bring an end to an uneven stay at Stamford Bridge for the 25 year old, who was acquired by the club for £107M in February of 2023 from Benfica. Fernandez openly questioned his future with the club following the end of last season’s schedule, leading to Chelsea putting him on transfer block throughout the summer.
There was lukewarm interest from other clubs prior to the start of the season, but with the Premier League’s summer transfer window set to close at 6pm ET, City opted to make a push for the Argentinian midfielder.
The move will reunite Fernandez with his former manager in Enzo Maresca, which is part of the reason he had his heart set on heading to Etihad Stadium.
With £315M generated from player sales to date, City will now have a net spend of £60M during this transfer window. Meanwhile, Chelsea will have earned £415M from player sales, good for a £73M profit during this same time period.
Fernandez will bolster an already fearsome Man City squad, but will leave a significant hole for Chelsea to replace at the heart of its lineup. With hours remaining in the current transfer window, the team has been heavily linked to Roma’s Manu Kone and Monaco’s Lamina Camara as possible replacements for the now departed midfielder.
If the club opts not to bring in outside reinforcements, they’ll look to one of Moises Caicedo, Reece James, Valentin Barco, Romeo Lavia, or Jordan Henderson to take on additional responsibilities this season.
City are off until Saturday when they’ll take on Coventry at 10am ET, while Chelsea has a Sunday date with Arsenal looming at 11:30am ET.
Photo: Bryan Berlin. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 International license.