The troubled summer for Chelsea ended with the green light for Enzo Fernandez’s £125m move to Manchester City on deadline day, matching the Premier League’s record spend for Alexander Isak. The Argentinian leaves west London without a like-for-like replacement arriving, and it is that omission, rather than the fee itself, which I find genuinely frustrating.
The financial logic is irrefutable. The Blues paid Benfica £106.8m in January 2023 and have made a profit on Fernandez, pushing their summer sales to over £400m. He is the first footballer in history to command a nine-figure fee twice. But the way things look on the pitch is a lot less comfortable. Last season, he netted 10 goals and set up four in 36 Premier League games, playing 3,121 minutes. His 48 combined goal involvements in the last two seasons are the sixth-best in the whole division. The Blues have just cut those numbers out of the squad.
Even worse, the solutions proposed disappeared. Roma manager Gian Piero Gasperini is understood to have blocked a move for Manu Kone, and Monaco pulled out of a £47m deal for Lamine Camara after their own business fell apart. Chelsea honoured their commitment to City anyway. It’s admirable, but I can’t say I’m not concerned.
This leaves Xabi Alonso with five senior central midfielders: Moises Caicedo, Romeo Lavia, Valentin Barco, Jordan Henderson and captain Reece James, who is a right-back, mind you. Dario Essugo has joined Strasbourg on loan until June 2027, while Andrey Santos, who made 43 appearances last season, has departed to Manchester United in a deal worth up to £50m. The middle of the pitch has been stripped bare.
My anxiety is not an abstraction, and we’ve already seen evidence of why we should be anxious. Caicedo missed the wins over Fulham and Luton Town and played only 14 minutes of the match against Brighton before being substituted as a precaution for what Alonso acknowledged was a recurrence of an injury. Lavia was magnificent, scoring his first Chelsea goal since 2023, but had spent three years fighting chronic muscular problems. Henderson, 36, is recuperating from surgery on his wrist. Any injury at the Emirates Stadium will leave Alonso tinkering with full-backs at the base of his midfield.
Chelsea Have No European Football
The obvious consolation for Chelsea fans here is the schedule. Our bleak 10th place in 2025-26 means no European football at all. A season of Premier League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup football is considerably less taxing than getting to the Champions League last-16 again. There are fewer midweek journeys and fewer accrued minutes, and that reprieve should not be dismissed.
But it’s not insurance. Without European qualification, the domestic cups are now the quickest route back to winning trophies. Chelsea reached the FA Cup final last season, losing to Manchester City, and were knocked out of the League Cup at the semi-final stage. The hierarchy, having splashed a British record £117m on Morgan Rogers and some £300m on total signings, will expect Alonso to go deep in both competitions, not to merely rotate diffidently through them.
A leaner schedule only alleviates pressure if we decide not to compete seriously in the remaining tournaments and Chelsea cannot credibly do that. Alonso has started perfectly with wins over Fulham, Luton and Brighton, seven league goals in two games, but now faces champions Arsenal at the Emirates on Sunday, with his main holding midfielder a huge doubt. January can’t come soon enough.