Chelsea give Man City 5pm Friday deadline for £120m Enzo Fernandez bid

Chelsea have told Manchester City they must submit an offer for Enzo Fernandez by 5pm on Friday or he will not be sold this summer. The Blues value the Argentina midfielder at £120m and, with six years remaining on his contract, are under no pressure to reduce that figure.

City’s interest is linked to uncertainty around Rodri, with Barcelona expected to raise their bid after an initial £40m offer was rejected. Enzo Maresca knows Fernandez well from his time as Chelsea manager, and City see the 25-year-old as one option to reshape their midfield should Rodri leave.

Chelsea’s deadline is designed to avoid a late-window saga and allow Xabi Alonso to prepare for the season without continuing uncertainty around one of his major players. The club believe interested sides have had long enough to act, and have indicated that if City do not meet the valuation by the deadline, Fernandez stays.

The relationship between the clubs is strained after Maresca’s acrimonious exit from Chelsea, which eventually saw City pay £17m compensation to appoint him. That backdrop makes a complex, high-value deal even harder to complete, particularly as Chelsea would be selling a player they signed from Benfica for about £107m in 2023.

City are also in talks with Lille over Morocco midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi and have already spent £116m on Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest. Unless Barcelona make a serious move for Rodri and City decide to cash in, a £120m deal for Fernandez before Friday’s deadline still looks difficult.