Chelsea are close to breaking their transfer record for Enzo Fernandez. However, this would be an awful move from the club.
You have to be extremely careful with any signing, but none more so than when you’re about to spend £112m and break your club-record transfer fee. Unfortunately for Chelsea, chief target Enzo Fernandez is not who they should be spending that amount of money on.
Here are 3 reasons why…
1. Enzo Fernandez is nowhere near experienced enough
I get it. Football is like business, you have to take risks to succeed. However, what separates good clubs from great clubs is that great clubs take CALCULATED risks.
If you were to calculate the risk Chelsea are taking by paying this fee, there isn’t actually that much evidence to back up the decision. Yes, he won the World Cup with Argentina and what a display he put in but let’s be real here, he was helped by the vast amount of talent in that setup.
When you look at his history, Enzo Fernandez has only actually played in 51 professional matches – starting in just 44 of those. I get that he’s young and you have to play matches to get experience, but to sign a player for £112m to grant him experience is absolutely nonsensical and not the kind of calculated risk you should make as a team with aspirations of Champions League football.
2. Chelsea are already on Financial Fair Play watchlist
The Top Flight reported earlier today that Chelsea would need to pay for this transfer in three instalments. At first glance, this looks like they would get the better end of the deal but actually, it will only hinder the Blues in upcoming transfer windows as they won’t have as much money to spend.
The reason why Chelsea will need to space out a payment plan like this is not because they are financially prudent but because they are at serious risk of breaching Financial Fair Play rules. Therefore, they are one of four Premier League clubs to be put on the FFP watchlist.
Rather than working their way around these rules, perhaps the board should come to the realisation that they need to plan their transfers more to avoid spending over the odds. £273m was spent by Chelsea in the summer and what do they have to show for it? A dent in their wallet and a handful of pointless players?
It might come across as harsh but it’s true and needs to be said. Chelsea are ninth in the Premier League so there is clearly something wrong with their recruitment systems. The way to mend this is not to continue spending money but to assess the current squad and scout the market for players which would fix the problems they have.
After all, as a great man once said – Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.
3. Early signs show he is a nightmare to coach
When you’re trying to build a long-term project, which is Graham Potter’s aim at Chelsea, the last thing you want is big egos in the dressing room. Unfortunately, Chelsea had already signed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who hasn’t had a successful career due to him falling out with pretty much every coach he’s played under.
There isn’t much to go off with Enzo Fernandez. If anything, you would assume he is a pleasure to coach given his tremendous World Cup display. However, the very reason that Chelsea is so heavily linked with him now is Benfica’s growing frustration.
The Daily Mail reported that Benfica fans wanted Enzo Fernandez to ‘go to hell and never come back’ after he completely neglected the club to celebrate winning the World Cup. He missed training on multiple occasions after flying out to Argentina without permission from his club.
Naturally, Chelsea fans will take this as a good thing. Surely this can only mean he is pushing for a move to the Premier League, right? Wrong.
It shows a complete lack of respect for his club and as a young player, this is a red flag for any potential suitor. He is bound to be happy after winning the World Cup, after all he was one of the best players in the tournament but you cannot neglect your other responsibilities. It is unprofessional and you can understand Benfica fans’ frustration with him.
Do you think Chelsea will sign Enzo Fernandez?