Man City's Pursuit of Enzo Fernandez Mirrors Isak's Liverpool Saga

Alexander Isak’s drawn-out £125m switch to Liverpool set the tone for last summer’s window. Manchester City’s pursuit of Enzo Fernandez is starting to feel eerily familiar.

Back in late May, Chelsea sat down with Fernandez’s agent, Javier Pastore, and drew a clear line: the Argentina midfielder could leave for £120m, but only if a bid landed before 14 August. The clock ticked, the deadline passed last Friday, and no formal offer arrived.

Chelsea’s message since has been blunt. Fernandez is not for sale this window.

Football rarely respects such certainty.

Isak spent most of last summer being declared “not for sale” by Newcastle United, only to smash the British transfer record on deadline day when Liverpool finally got their man. That long-running saga dragged through the window, fed on denials and U-turns, and only ended when the paperwork hit the Premier League office in the final hours.

Twelve months on, the Enzo question refuses to go away.

Maresca wants a reunion – and City smell opportunity

Manchester City, now led by Enzo Maresca, the coach who worked with Fernandez at Chelsea, remain firmly in the hunt. Inside the Etihad, there is a strong belief that Chelsea would still be open to doing business at the right price, regardless of the public stance.

City’s need is obvious. Rodri has agreed a move to Barcelona. Bernardo Silva has gone at the end of his contract. Two pillars of the Guardiola era, gone in the same summer. The midfield needs rebuilding, fast.

Talks over an £85m deal for Morocco international Ayyoub Bouaddi are already at an advanced stage, and City want Fernandez alongside him to reshape the centre of the pitch.

They have not been shy with the chequebook already. Elliot Anderson has arrived from Nottingham Forest for a club-record £116m. Jeremy Monga has joined from Leicester City for £12.5m. Geronimo Rulli has come in from Marseille for £1.7m to strengthen the goalkeeping department.

If City manage to land both Fernandez and Bouaddi, Maresca will have presided over a spend north of £330m in a single window.

The numbers sound wild, but there is a plan behind them. Fees from the departures of Rodri and James Trafford will cover a significant slice. Likely exits for Tijjani Reijnders and Savinho should bring in more. The wage bill has already eased with Silva, John Stones and Nathan Ake all moving on.

City are reshaping the squad, and Fernandez is right at the heart of that blueprint.

Chelsea’s mixed signals and a restless fanbase

Across London, the picture is far more tangled.

Reports from Spain suggest Chelsea are privately still open to selling Fernandez and have brought in heavyweight agent Jorge Mendes to help untangle the situation. Mendes also represents winger Pedro Neto, but his role here is clear: find a resolution that suits the club and the player.

Fernandez himself tried to engineer a move to Real Madrid earlier in the summer. Madrid later denied any interest, but the attempt did not go unnoticed. It has left a mark, particularly among sections of the Chelsea support.

On Saturday, in a 3-1 friendly win over Real Sociedad, that tension spilled into the open. When Fernandez came on, a pocket of the crowd jeered. Others immediately answered with cheers. Every touch brought another ripple of noise, split between approval and frustration.

Chelsea, though, are pushing the line that he can still be fully reintegrated. When he replaced Reece James last weekend, the club handed him the captain’s armband. It was a visible show of faith, a public statement that they still see him as a leader, not a problem to be offloaded.

Yet the uncertainty lingers. The player’s camp knows City are circling. Chelsea know a late bid at the right level would test their resolve. And everyone understands the chaos a late sale would cause.

New manager Xabi Alonso would suddenly be scrambling for a replacement, deep into the window, with the season already taking shape. Tactical plans would need rewriting. Dressing-room dynamics would shift overnight.

For now, the official line is clear: Enzo Fernandez is not for sale. The transfer window, though, has a habit of tearing up scripts. If City come calling with a bid that matches Chelsea’s original £120m threshold, does anyone really believe this story is over?