Opinion: Enzo Fernandez Exit Would Leave Chelsea With A Midfield Ticking Time Bomb | OneFootball

Enzo Fernandez was among Chelsea's World Cup stars who reported back for pre-season this week. Video Credit: Absolute Chelsea

There is a curious irony developing in Chelsea's long-running Enzo Fernández transfer saga.

A player who appeared to be edging towards the exit door at Stamford Bridge this summer could now be the man the Blues most need to keep.

The Athletic reported on Tuesday that there is now a belief within Chelsea that the Argentine is more likely to stay than leave, despite Manchester City retaining an interest in reuniting him with Enzo Maresca. City would need to meet Chelsea's reported £120 million valuation and make further sales before any move could materialise.

Perhaps Chelsea should simply hope neither happens.

Because once the emotion and speculation surrounding Fernández's apparent desire to leave are stripped away - if that desire exists or remains - the footballing argument for keeping him is becoming increasingly difficult to ignore.

The numbers do the talking - but Enzo just likes to shout

Start with what he actually did last season.

Fernández played 54 times for Chelsea, starting 49 matches and accumulating 4,835 minutes across those appearances - more than any other player in the squad.

He scored 15 goals and supplied seven assists, finishing as Chelsea's second-highest scorer in all competitions. His ten Premier League goals were second only to João Pedro's 15.

And these were not all meaningless additions to the score sheet.

There was the last-gasp equaliser at Manchester City - the club he is most closely linked to. The winner against West Ham on his 150th Chelsea appearance. The FA Cup semi-final winner against Leeds. Then came the sumptuous long-range strike against Tottenham at the end of the campaign.

The former River Plate and Benfica starlet does not merely rack up the numbers. He has also developed a knack for appearing when Chelsea need someone to grab a game by the scruff of the neck.

That is perhaps his most valuable quality.

He is an intense, combative midfielder who plays as though every loose ball is a personal challenge – albeit, sometimes, to a fault, as we saw when he sent Pau Cubarsi into a somersault in the World Cup final last month.

He will chase, tackle, argue, demand the ball and put his body where it hurts. His performances can occasionally veer into that aforementioned over-exuberance, but there is no mistaking the competitive edge. He wants to impose himself on matches, and Chelsea have often needed precisely that.

Talk over Enzo Fernandez's future is likely to continue until the very end of the summer window. IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

A midfield built on hope, Caicedo, and one functioning arm?

Now consider the alternative.

The Athletic's reporting suggests Chelsea are unlikely to make another midfield signing this summer because they already have "plenty" of options, with Valentin Barco and Jordan Henderson joining the squad this window and captain Reece James capable of playing centrally.

But remove Fernández from that equation and the depth starts looking rather shallow, to say the least.

His most frequent midfield partner, Moises Caicedo, played 50 times last season, including 47 starts, and accumulated 4,604 minutes. He was magnificent at times, but Chelsea have already demonstrated a worrying willingness to run their £115 million midfielder - who wants his accomplice to stay - into the ground.

Romeo Lavia remains a tantalising talent as we have seen in pre-season thus far, but cannot yet be treated as anywhere close to a reliable 50-game midfielder. Dário Essugo is returning from a lengthy injury lay-off. Andrey Santos has gone.

His compatriot Barco brings tenacity, but arguably lacks the physical profile to simply replace Fernández in the middle of a Premier League midfield – a league he has already struggled in with Brighton.

And Henderson? He is 36.

There is nothing wrong with adding experience to a young squad. But relying on a 36-year-old midfielder - with half of his arms being currently functional - to compensate for the departure of one of your most important players would be quite the gamble.

This is the ticking time bomb Chelsea would create for themselves.

Sell Fernández for £120 million, fail to replace him and suddenly the club are relying on Caicedo remaining fit and fresh, Lavia finally staying healthy, youngsters like the admittedly impressive and mature beyond his years Mahdi Nicoll-Jazuli accelerating their development, and a veteran whose body is already sending rather unsubtle reminders that footballers do not go on forever.

That is an extraordinary amount of risk to assume simply because one of your best players had an unsettled summer and perhaps had designs on a dream move to Real Madrid – it wouldn’t be the first time that has happened to the Blues, after all.

There is, of course, a perfectly legitimate argument that Chelsea should not keep a player who does not want to be there. If the one-time World Cup young player of the tournament has genuinely decided that his future lies elsewhere, the club must ultimately respect that.

But the current situation appears to be moving in a different direction.

If Manchester City will not meet Chelsea's valuation, and Chelsea are not planning to replace Fernández, then reintegration suddenly looks like both the most logical outcome and the path of least resistance for everyone.

It would require the Argentine to put the summer behind him. It would require Chelsea to put the summer behind them too.

But football has a habit of making transfer sagas look rather less important once the ball starts rolling.

Chelsea do not need another midfielder nearly as badly as they need the one they already have to come back through the door.

Because if Fernández stays, Chelsea retain a midfielder who played more football than anyone else in their squad last season, scored 15 goals, created seven more and repeatedly produced decisive moments when they mattered.

If he leaves, they do not simply lose £120m worth of talent. They create a hole.

And right now, there is very little evidence that Chelsea have the personnel to fill it.