Fast start: Enzo Fernandez has already been amongst the goals this season
Chelsea Football Newsletter
Ever since Enzo Fernandez first pitched up at Chelsea all of 955 days ago, he has been an extremely important player.
But while his influence has remained a constant, the manifestation of that fact has been an evolving process.
The seismic £107million outlay to sign him from Benfica in that record-breaking winter window of spending came off the back of the midfielder’s outstanding performances for Argentina en route to World Cup glory at Qatar 2022.
Fernandez was just 21 at that tournament, yet demonstrated incredible maturity in a deep-lying midfield role, spraying passes left and right and keeping Argentina’s midfield ticking over with the composure and presence of a player much more senior than the boy from Buenos Aires.
Campeon del mundo: Enzo Fernandez led Argentina to a historic World Cup triumph
His journey at Chelsea has seen him “improve a lot”, according to his head coach Enzo Maresca, only privy to the last year of that process.
And in that time, he has become a far greater attacking threat, not only a metronomic presence these days but also a player with an ever-increasing impact in offensive areas.
Maresca is delighted with Fernandez, who has got better “in all aspects”, he says, “there’s no doubt”.
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The Chelsea manager, speaking ahead of Saturday evening’s short trip to Brentford, explained: “In terms of leadership, in terms of numbers, [he has improved], and there is no doubt that he is going to continue to improve and do very good things for us.
“If you see Enzo’s numbers between goals and assists, he’s one of the highest in the Premier League. That shows he can help us a lot in scoring goals.”
Maresca is right. The statistics do back up sustained improvement in attacking output.
In his first half-season, in 2023, Fernandez played 18 league games and assisted just twice, never scoring.
The first full season brought six goal contributions. Last season, there were 13. And already in this campaign, Fernandez has scored twice and provided an assist in the first three games of the season.
Brentford face an in-form player scoring and assisting regularly, fresh after not travelling with Argentina over the international break because he was suspended for their World Cup qualifying double-header.
Cole Palmer is a doubt against the Bees. Might we see Fernandez pushed up to the No10 position if the Englishman is absent? Certainly, there can be no doubts over the 24-year-old’s ability to impact the game.
Maresca seems to think it is a possibility. “Enzo can play there,” he said, also reminding the media that new loan signing Facundo Buonanotte could play there too.
Fernandez, though, is the form pick. And whether as a No10 or as a No8, his significance within the Chelsea team is evergreen.
“I think Enzo is a great player,” Maresca said.