Manchester City Prepares Bid for Enzo Fernández Amid Transfer Record Chase
Manchester City are preparing an opening offer for Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernández, as Enzo Maresca moves to plug the gaps in a midfield ripped apart by summer exits.
The Argentina international has been placed at the top of Maresca’s wishlist, with City accelerating their plans in the final week of the window. Chelsea know the interest is serious. Earlier in the summer, they set an informal deadline and a minimum price of £120m for any deal. That date came and went without agreement, but City have not walked away.
They are expected to come back again before next week’s transfer deadline, this time with a formal bid for the 25-year-old.
If Chelsea’s valuation is met, Fernández would become one of the most expensive signings in Premier League history, behind only Liverpool’s £125m move for Alexander Isak last summer. It could also be the second time in the same window that City break their own transfer record, after paying £116m to bring Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest.
Maresca’s urgency is easy to understand. City’s midfield has been stripped of experience and control in a matter of weeks. Tijjani Reijnders has gone to Al-Qadsiah in Saudi Arabia in a £52m deal. Barcelona have taken Rodri for £65m. Newcastle have agreed a £52m move for Nico Gonzalez. Bernardo Silva had already departed earlier in the summer before joining Real Madrid.
The spine that defined City’s recent dominance has been scattered. Maresca wants Fernández to be at the heart of the rebuild.
Their relationship could prove crucial. The pair know each other well from their time together at Chelsea, before Maresca’s controversial New Year’s Day exit and subsequent move to Etihad Stadium in June. That connection has helped keep City in the race, even as Fernández’s situation at Stamford Bridge has grown increasingly strained.
It has been a turbulent spell for the midfielder in west London. Alongside his agent, former Paris St-Germain midfielder Javier Pastore, Fernández explored the possibility of a move to Real Madrid earlier this year. Madrid responded with a public statement denying any attempt to sign him, leaving the player still locked into a project he has grown openly critical of since Chelsea’s Champions League exit to PSG in March.
The tension has lingered into the new season. New Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso revealed in July that he held a private conversation with Fernández, who cost £107m from Benfica in 2023, but refused to share what was said. The club’s stance has remained firm on price, but the player’s future has felt increasingly fragile.
On the pitch, the atmosphere has turned sour. Fernández came off the bench in Monday’s 3-2 win over Fulham, only to be booed by sections of the home support because of his role in England’s World Cup exit. At full-time he briefly celebrated with the away fans and his team-mates, then headed straight down the tunnel, the first Chelsea player to disappear from view.
Now City are closing in with a concrete proposal, the clock ticking on the window and Chelsea holding out for a fee that would reshape their own plans.
If Maresca gets his man, Fernández won’t just be another statement signing. He’ll be the cornerstone of City’s next midfield – and one of the costliest bets English football has ever seen.
