**Enzo Fernandez** has agreed to go from **Chelsea** to [Manchester City](https://www.vavel.com/en/data/manchester-city/) for a record-equalling fee.
The midfielder is moving for **£125 million**, the same price **Liverpool** paid for **Alexander Isak** to sign from **Newcastle United** one year ago to the day. This deal involves the joint highest fee paid by a British club, and it is also the second time the _Citizens_ have broken their transfer record this year.
·**All change in City’s midfield**
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City chose to pay **£116 million** for the services of **Elliot Anderson**, the highest fee paid for a British player at the time before **Morgan Rogers** was bought by **Chelsea** for £117 million three weeks later.
They also acquired the services of **Ayyoub Bouaddi** from **Lille** for £86 million in August. It means that the board has backed **Enzo Maresca** with more than **£300 million** worth in midfield recruitment alone this summer, signalling the state of transition the once-perennial champions are experiencing.
Indeed, City have allowed a quartet of midfielders to go out of the door during the summer. **Bernardo Silva** signed off from a nine-year spell at the **Etihad Stadium** as his contract came to an end, while **Rodri** was sold to **Barcelona** for £65 million.
To add to that loss of top tier quality, two recruits from the previous calendar year have already called time on their careers in the blue half of Manchester.
**Nico Gonzalez** was acquired to help manage the ‘crisis’ at the club at the end of 2024, signing for £50 million from **Porto**. But down the stretch of last season, it was clear that he was second fiddle to the departed veterans, and he is already making an impact as a starting player for **Newcastle United**.
Meanwhile, **Tijjani Reijnders** hit the ground running last August with a goal and an assist on his debut against **Wolves** after moving for £46.5 million from **AC Milan**. But the **Serie A** Midfielder of the Year could not help tie the team together from a deeper position, and the genial creativity of **Rayan Cherki** meant that there was no room for him to get playing time in a more offensive role.
·**Why does Enzo want Enzo?**
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Fernandez will be reuniting with Maresca, who was his head coach at Chelsea for 18 months.
The Italian immediately signalled his support for the midfielder through the fallout from an infamous video on international duty. After **Copa America** success for **Argentina**, players participated in racist chants about **France**, whom they defeated in the 2022 **World Cup** final.
Several club teammates of the then 23-year-old unfollowed him on social media, and people expected the club to take a stance. However, no disciplinary action was taken by the _Blues_: Fernandez was allowed to get away with apologising privately to the dressing room.
Then, Maresca decided to appoint him as a captain in the absence of **Reece James**, defending the decision in his discussions with the media during August.
_"The reason why is I can see his teammates recognise him, like a reference, as a captain, and he was already captain in the preseason when we changed Reece in the game. All of us make mistakes. It's important to recognise Enzo did a mistake, recognised the mistake and it's finished._
_"I don't know about you, but I did some mistakes in the past and I recognised. As a human being, if you do a mistake and you recognise, you are not going to be punished for life. Enzo did a mistake, recognised. For me, he is one of the references and I have nothing to add."_
Fernandez was also spared the demands in midfield that his compatriot **Mauricio Pochettino** placed upon him. The midfield pivot with **Moises Caicedo** was too ill disciplined and incapable of covering ground without the help of **Conor Gallagher**, so the Argentine increasingly acted as a box crasher.
He has gone on to register **24 goals** across the last two seasons, helping **Chelsea** claim **Conference League** and **Club World Cup** glory. It was not the function meant to be fulfilled by a player whom many deemed a conductor of the game, but it went some way to repaying his **£107 million** price tag.
·**A reunion born of loyalty**
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Fernandez felt alienated by the departure of Maresca on New Year’s Day, defending his former boss after **Chelsea** were demolished in the **Champions League** Round of 16 by **Paris Saint-Germain**.
_“I don’t understand it \[Maresca’s departure\]. Sometimes there are things that we as players don’t understand, how and in what way they try to manage things, so I don’t have an answer to give you._
_“It was a departure that hurt us a lot. We had an identity, he gave us order, even though, as is the way of football, sometimes it’s good, sometimes bad, but he always had a very clear identity when it came to training and playing, and his departure hurts a lot, especially in the middle of the season.”_
Time will tell how he best serves City, but sometimes all talent needs is to be loved and appreciated.
An engaged **Enzo Fernandez** can be a decisive figure, and the Argentine should seize the opportunity to deliver on the promise that took the international stage by storm only four years ago in **Qatar**.