Enzo Maresca has been warned that Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez is ‘not suited to the Premier League’ by former Blues defender William Gallas.
Signed for £105m, Fernandez became the most expensive signing in British football when he swapped Benfica for Chelsea in January 2023.
The 23-year-old, who starred for Argentina as they won the World Cup in 2022, has shown glimpses of his potential but has too often failed to hit the heights expected of him during his time at Stamford Bridge.
With Maresca showing signs of developing a settled starting XI, Fernandez finds himself behind Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia in the pecking order and has not started a league game since the start of October.
Earlier in the month, Maresca said that the partnership of Caiceo and Lavia gave the Blues a better ‘balance’ in midfield, but suggested the Argentine will still play a vital part in his plans as the season wears on.
But former Chelsea centre-back Gallas fears that his former club may soon have to face up to the fact that their big-money purchase is not a good fit for the English top-flight.
Asked if Fernandez is suited to the Premier League, Gallas told Prime Casino: ‘Enzo Fernandez is different. Even if he’s got good quality, we know the Premier League is very tough.
‘The Premier League is not for everybody, we know that. We know it’s not for everybody. He has to lift his fitness. He has to do more; he has to run more. He has to be more consistent as well.
‘That’s why the position he plays is so difficult. What do we ask him to do? To give some assists, to score goals, to play almost as a box-to-box.
‘Can he do this? I don’t know if he can really play box-to-box. He needs to either start scoring goals or providing assists.’
Gallas continued: ‘I think it will be a little bit hard for Enzo this season to reestablish himself in the midfield for Chelsea.
‘He’ll get opportunities from the bench, he got one against Manchester United, and even if he’s on for 15 or 20 minutes, he must show his quality.
‘Against Man Utd, he had the opportunity to score the second goal for Chelsea that would have won them the game. So, there will be moments for him, and he needs to take them.
‘He was a vice-captain and at the moment he’s on the bench. He knows he has to do more and other players know they will need to keep performing to keep their place in the team.’
Gallas is not the only person to hold reservations about Fernendez’s potential in a Chelsea shirt, with Graeme Souness insistent that the midfielder will ‘never reach the level’ the club would have hoped for.
‘From the current squad, I think there’ll be an enormous wastage of players and a lot of them will never live up to the levels that people think they will,’ he said on the Three Up Front podcast.
‘The most obvious one for me is someone who isn’t even in the team at the moment, Enzo Fernandez, on whom they spent £105million. They’ve bought a load of players who won’t reach the level they would’ve hoped.’
Despite his downturn in form, it could prove difficult for Chelsea to move on Fernandez given he earns £180,000-a-week and has a deal which runs until 2032.
Barcelona and Inter Milan were credited with an interest in the midfielder but early reports suggest he is still happy at Stamford Bridge and wants to fight for his place in the first team.
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