Manchester City are unlikely to meet Chelsea‘s Friday deadline for Enzo Fernández, according to Enzo Maresca.
Chelsea have set a 5 p.m. UK deadline for interested clubs to meet their £120 million ($161.8m) valuation of Fernández, sources told ESPN, with City among the clubs interested in the Argentina international. The west London club are adamant they will not consider any offers received after that point.
Asked about Fernández at a news conference on Friday, Maresca said: “I don’t think it’s correct to speak about players from another club. At the same time, I don’t think it’s correct when other clubs speak about our players. That’s why I’m not going to do it.”
Asked if he was going to do any transfer business today: “Not today, to be honest. I don’t think we are going to do something today.”
Maresca, meanwhile, said he gave Rodri a “big hug” on the Spain midfielder’s return to Manchester City on Friday but offered no guarantees he will stay.
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City have already turned down offers from Barcelona for their Ballon d’Or winner, who is in the final year of his contract, but the Spanish champions are expected to return with an increased bid.
Rodri was the last City player to report for preseason training, only arriving back on Friday, having had back surgery after helping Spain to World Cup glory this summer.
Asked if he expects Rodri to remain a City player, Maresca said: “First of all, the transfer window is open. We can buy players, we can sell players, anything can happen.
“I just saw Rodri now in the building, I gave him a big hug. He looks good, so we’ll see what happens. Now we will have time to see each other a little bit more.”
City have already splashed £116m on England‘s Elliot Anderson following Bernardo Silva‘s exit, but fellow midfielder Tijjani Reijnders is on the verge of joining Al Qadsiah in a £51m deal as a major shake-up continues in the middle of the park.
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Reijnders only arrived from AC Milan for £46.5m last summer, but fell down the pecking order in the second half of the season and started only half of City’s Premier League matches.
Maresca said that it was “normal” that a player would want to play more and this had driven his determination to seek a move.
“It’s a bit difficult to convince players when they are already convinced,” he said. “You need to change their thoughts, that is not always easy.
“Tijjani’s situation is like James Trafford’s situation, some more players, but I think when the club, the player, the manager, they all think the same way, that probably the best decision for a player is to go, you have to go.”
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City are preparing for Sunday’s Community Shield against Arsenal in Cardiff.
Erling Haaland sat out the final part of an open training session on Thursday but Maresca said there were no significant concerns over their star striker.
“He had just a small thing behind the heels but he was okay,” Maresca said.
Information from PA and ESPN’s James Olley was used in this report.
