Could Chelsea still sell Enzo Fernandez before transfer deadline?

Manchester City still hold interest in Argentina star, who was booed at Stamford Bridge

The Enzo Fernandez story has been one of the biggest transfer sagas of the summer so far.

Even though Chelsea’s deadline for bids for the Argentine midfielder lapsed last week without any offers being made, some fans suspect he could still leave before the transfer window closes on September 1.

But is it conceivable now that Fernandez is not at Stamford Bridge next month?

Last Wednesday, news broke that Chelsea had set an arbitrary deadline of 5pm BST on Friday for bids from potential suitors to be tabled.

Chelsea desired clarity as to whether new manager Xabi Alonso would have Fernandez in his squad for his first campaign in charge, and so didn’t want the saga to linger into the last few weeks of the window.

All along, Chelsea valued Fernandez at £120million, refusing to consider his exit for anything below that figure.

It became clear in early July that he would not be joining Real Madrid, who released a strongly-worded statement denying any interest or intention to pursue a deal.

Ex-Blues boss Enzo Maresca wants to reunite with Fernandez and all eyes were focused on Manchester City leading up to Friday’s deadline.

Chelsea had communicated with all potentially interested parties to inform them of the payment terms they would be willing to accept for Fernandez. But the 5pm deadline passed and no written offer was made.

Might Chelsea still sell Fernandez anyway? That will depend heavily on a couple of factors. Firstly, whether the interest in him remains.

City have since been thrashed 3-0 by Arsenal in the Community Shield and agreed to sell Rodri to Barcelona, increasing their need to strengthen in midfield.

They are closing in on the signing of Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille, but are said to have not given up on Fernandez yet.

If they do end up bidding at around that aforementioned price, Chelsea will have a tough decision to make over a player who was booed by sections of the home support during Saturday’s 3-1 friendly win over Real Sociedad at Stamford Bridge.

Club sources have indicated that Chelsea are now preparing to have Fernandez with them for the season and won’t consider his sale until next summer at the earliest, ruling out a January exit.

But a bid close to their valuation would surely put that stance to the test and force Chelsea to consider whether to maintain their hard line instead of cashing in. A buying club would have to agree fresh terms with Chelsea, after the pre-deadline terms were taken off the table, and it could cost them even more than £120m, given that Chelsea would then be scrabbling around for a replacement before the window closes.

If Chelsea buckled and felt an offer was too good to decline, Fernandez could still leave this summer.

But if they stick to their current stance, then he would remain a Chelsea player at least until June 2027 and feature heavily under Alonso this season.