Enzo Fernandez has hardly been overlooked by Chelsea’s long list of managers during his year and a half in west London.
The record £106.8m arrival has started 50 of his 53 Premier League appearances since leaving Benfica in 2023. However, Fernandez was notable for his absence Chelsea’s 2-1 loss to Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday afternoon.
Despite the defeat, Enzo Maresca has rightly assessed the performance that Fernández saw especially from the wing as “one of the best of the season”.
The Argentina international had been representing his country in Buenos Aires as recently as Wednesday, so he started on the bench last weekend as a precaution. But rumors are growing that Fernández would be better off staying on the sidelines.
In the dark days of Frank Lampard’s interim manager at the end of the 2022/23 campaign, the Chelsea legend He described Fernández as “the most natural six in a midfield that doesn’t have that many natural sixes”. The Blues have since signed Moises Caicedo as the team’s defensive engine, theoretically freeing up Fernandez to focus on his favorite part of the game.
“I’ve always felt comfortable playing close to the goal,” Fernandez said Ole while still at River Plate, he was “looking for pockets of space to be able to create a chance or shoot”.
Maresca wants his number eight to do both sides of the game. The Italian coach described Fernandez as a player who can “attack like an attacking midfielder and defend like a holding midfielder”. That all-action role has taken the form of starting alongside Caicedo in a 4-2-3-1 formation before moving forward almost alongside Cole Palmer, while the left-back, usually Marc Cucurella, drops in centrally behind him when Chelsea to have possession
Work and Work
pic.twitter.com/hEAbbif4DK
— Enzo Fernández (@IEnzofernandez8) October 2, 2024
Fernández has had little discernible impact in the attacking third this season. The 23-year-old has taken just four Premier League shots, less than either of the two LiverpoolCentral players Virgil van Dijk or Ibrahima Konate.
Maresca has noticeably changed Fernández higher up the pitch. For the first time in his European career, up to 30% of the playmaker’s touches are in the final third, compared to 23% last term. Despite being in a more advanced role, Fernández hasn’t created many chances, averaging just 1.5 per 90, a minor increase from last season.
By trotting in front of the ball, Chelsea were robbed of Fernández’s probing passes in the build-up and his overall influence in every contest.
The Argentine had more touches, recorded more successful passes and made more tackles than any other player in 2022. World Cup end Fernández doesn’t see much of the ball this season or contribute defensively, which helps explain his relative ineffectiveness.
Enzo Fernández’s Chelsea stats for the 2024/25 season
Statistics |
Average per 90 |
Chelsea standings |
---|---|---|
shots |
0.66 |
9th |
Key passes |
1.48 |
7th |
Progressive passes |
5.57 |
4th |
Tackles won |
0.98 |
11th |
interceptions |
0.33 |
16th |
Chelsea fans have only seen Romeo Lavia make two starts for the Blues since his £58m move in 2023, but their manager is far more familiar with the talented Belgian. Maresca oversaw Lavia’s rise from the under-18s to his own Manchester City Under-23 team for the second half of the 2020/21 season. Coincidentally, the pair’s first game together was against Chelsea four years ago.
After a woeful 13 minutes all of last season, the injury-prone midfielder has impressed in his two starts this season, although both contests ended in defeat. Lavia remained in a central battle with the likes of Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Mateo Kovacic in the season opener against Manchester City, with more touches than all but one of his teammates during his time on the pitch.
While Lavia was overworked against City, Maresca lifted the Blues to consistently have numerical superiority on their trip to Anfield last Sunday. Deeper alongside Caicedo, Lavia’s natural defensive tendencies allowed Malo Gusto to move into an attacking midfield position from the left back when Chelsea had the ball, something that would never happen with Fernández.
Lavia is more concerned with keeping possession than penetration – he’s dropped just three of his 71 passes this season (96% completion rate). Fernández, by comparison, completes roughly 81% of his passes. It’s more a matter of style than success, but Maresca is at pains to stress how important “control” is. After enjoying 58% possession at Anfield, Maresca said: “We don’t like dropping points and losing a game, but if you have to choose a path this is the path.”
Despite Lavia’s obvious potential, the threat of injury haunts every outing, which explains why Maresca hasn’t risked him for much more than an hour in each outing.
For all of Lavia’s quality, there is little danger of Fernández being lost for long. As Maresca said at the beginning of this season: “He is doing very well for us and the idea is to continue with that.” Not everyone would agree.