Chelsea's self-imposed Friday deadline for offers on Enzo Fernandez came and went without Manchester City lodging a bid, despite reports suggesting a £120million offer was prepared and ready to go.
The Blues had told City, and any other interested party, that they wanted the Argentina midfielder's future resolved by 5pm on Friday, warning that they would otherwise keep him until at least the summer of 2027. Yet new City manager Enzo Maresca, who worked with Fernandez during his time at Stamford Bridge, made clear before kickoff on the deadline that his club were unlikely to act that day.
"I don't think we're going to do something today," Maresca told reporters, though he left the door open for future business. "For sure there are things we need to do, how many I don't know, can be one can be two, depends also if players want to leave." He stressed his immediate priority was Sunday's Community Shield against Arsenal in Cardiff, his first match in charge of City. "It's 48 hours for the final, my first final in this club, I would like to win my first trophy, so my focus isn't on players that can leave or players that can arrive, my focus is on the game."
A move for Fernandez appears closely tied to City's ability to offload Rodri, the Spain midfielder who won the World Cup and has been a cornerstone of the club's recent success, including scoring the winning goal in the 2023 Champions League final. Rodri, who has just a year left on his contract, wants to join Barcelona, but the Catalan club's opening offers have fallen well short of City's valuation of around £68m. Barcelona raised their bid to roughly £51m, still below City's demands, though Real Madrid have reportedly dropped out of the race.
Maresca declined to clarify Rodri's status when asked directly. "I just saw Rodri now in the building, I gave him a big hug, he looks good, so we'll see what happens," he said, adding that the transfer window remained fluid. "The transfer window is open, we can buy players, we can sell players, anything can happen."
Should Rodri depart, City would be able to move for Fernandez, who fell out of favour at Chelsea following Maresca's departure in January. The Argentine publicly criticised the club after a heavy Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain in March and admitted his dream was to play for Real Madrid, comments that led to a two-match benching. Real Madrid have since confirmed they will not pursue him, leaving City as his most realistic suitors.
City have already broken their transfer record this summer, paying £116m for Nottingham Forest's Elliot Anderson, and are also closing in on 18-year-old Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille. Meanwhile, Tijjani Reijnders is expected to leave for Saudi Arabia's Al-Qadsiah in a deal worth around £51m-£52m, with Maresca acknowledging that squad players wanting regular football is a natural part of the game. "They all work every day, they all do sessions every day and at the end of the week they all want to play a game," he said. "When they don't play, they struggle to understand... it's a normal situation."
A £120m deal for Fernandez would rank among the sport's biggest transfers, sitting just outside the top three all-time fees. It would also push City's summer outlay, which already includes signings such as Geronimo Rulli and Jeremy Monga, well past £250m.
For Chelsea, retaining Fernandez or banking a club-record sale is viewed internally as a favourable outcome either way. The transfer saga also carries an undercurrent of tension between the two clubs stemming from Maresca's contested exit from Stamford Bridge earlier this year, which triggered a compensation dispute eventually settled in Chelsea's favour.
With the actual transfer deadline not arriving until September 1, there remains time for City to test Chelsea's resolve — though, as history has shown with other clubs' arbitrary cut-off points, self-imposed deadlines are not always just for show.
Based on reporting from BBC Sport, The Guardian, The Independent, and the Evening Standard.