Inside Alonso & Fernandez Talks: Damning 'Lack Of Desire' To Play vs Luton Amid Man City Interest | OneFootball

What will happen with Enzo Fernandez's future come the end of the window?

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Xabi Alonso is looking for players with “desire to play” when making team decisions amid speculation over Enzo Fernandez's future.

Fernandez was a surprise absentee in Chelsea’s 2-0 Carabao Cup second-round win over Luton Town on Thursday.

The 25-year-old was left out of the squad despite Alonso claiming that he would be available for the match just a day earlier. This has unsurprisingly added more fuel to rumours of his potential move to Manchester City.

After the game, Alonso made it clear that, despite reports that Fernandez asked not to be included on the team sheet, the midfielder’s omission was his decision as manager, along with the club.

Alonso’s words from the latter part of the press conference, however, might have revealed another interesting side of the story.

“We need the players that are in the best situation to play,” the Spaniard told reporters.

“We need to take everything into consideration: players that are in good moments, players that are not feeling that energy to play.

“For me it’s very important that they feel that desire to play and to have good preparation.

“We talked, and we decided that (for Luton) it was better not to be part of the squad. He’s a top player, there’s no doubt about that.”

Alonso was adamant that Fernandez remained professional, but possibly being left out of the squad due to a lack of desire to play hardly screams professionalism.

Of course, the manager did not specifically say this was the reason Fernandez was left out. However, his official explanation that it was because there were other players who needed minutes is not entirely convincing, either.

Since Moises Caicedo remained sidelined with a minor injury, Reece James, who played a full 90 minutes against Fulham on Monday, had to play another 60+ minutes in the League Cup win. He did not need those extra minutes.

Fernandez continues to be linked with a possible move to Manchester City, who may have to fork out over £120 million for the midfielder.

If such a deal goes through, Chelsea will then be expected to be in the market for a replacement, with names such as Bournemouth’s Alex Scott and AS Monaco’s Lamine Camara believed to be on their list.

However, Alonso refused to give any concrete answer when asked if Chelsea would sign another midfielder.

“We have been talking about speculation, and sorry, but I am not the one who is talking too early about things,” he answered.

“We will see what happens. We want to be ready always.”

As it stands, Alonso has Caicedo, James, Romeo Lavia, Valentin Barco, and Dario Essugo as midfield options alongside Fernandez. James, who is naturally a right-back, seems to be at the front of the midfield pecking order, likely along with Caicedo.

Caicedo missed the first two games of the season due to a minor injury, but is expected to train on Friday with a view to being available for Sunday’s Premier League home match against his former club, Brighton.