Manchester City boss Enzo Maresca has revealed his players repeatedly asked whether Enzo Fernández was joining the club before his deadline-day move, while Chelsea head coach Xabi Alonso said it is now “time to move forward” from the saga.
Fernández completed a British record-equalling £125 million ($169m) move from Chelsea to City late on Tuesday night, bringing an end to a transfer saga which had run for much of the summer.
Chelsea had initially set their own deadline of Aug. 14 for clubs to make offers for Fernández. But with that having come and gone, City then made another late move which saw intense negotiations over the fee before a settlement was eventually reached close to the 11 p.m. cut-off.
“He’s a winner and when you belong to a squad and another winner arrives they are always happy,” Maresca said Friday.
“I can promise you that in the last four or five days four or five players in the squad were asking if he was coming or not because they wanted him to be with us.
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“It’s very important that he is with us and we are 100% happy with that.”
Fernández could make his City debut against Coventry at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
Maresca, who previously managed Fernández at Chelsea, said last week that he wanted to sign “one or two more captains” but confirmed the midfielder will not immediately be added to City’s leadership group.
“The four captains are Ruben [Dias], Erling [Haaland], Marc Guéhi and Gigi Donnarumma,” Maresca said.
“But Enzo is ready. I know him quite well, I know what he can bring to the team. He’s a winner, he has a winner’s mentality. He knows how to win — World Cup, Club World Cup.”
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Alonso, meanwhile, said Chelsea must put Fernández’s departure behind them as they prepare to face Premier League champions Arsenal on Sunday.
“We take all the decisions together. We are responsible for them with our work together, the big ones, small ones,” Alonso said.
“We knew ultimately the last goal is to have the best for the team, for the squad, for daily work here. We want to build a good spirit and a good team, and we have always taken the decisions thinking that we wanted to reach that.”
Alonso added: “In football many things happen, and you need to be prepared for everything.
“With Enzo, we have had conversations, but always with respect as well.
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“What he has done for the club, it has been great, and we are thankful, but now it is time to move forward.
“We have a lot of big personalities, players with a lot of quality in all the different positions and now we are ready to go.”
Chelsea had hoped to bring in Monaco midfielder Lamine Camara following Fernández’s departure, but the deal collapsed when the Ligue 1 club backed out having not signed a deal sheet before the window closed.
Information from PA was used in this report.
