How Manchester City completed £125m deal for Enzo Fernandez
Manchester City ended the summer's longest-running transfer saga in the final hours of the window, signing Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez from Chelsea for a joint-British record £125m — the club's second record fee of the summer.
A record deal at the deadline
Manchester City completed the signing of Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez from Chelsea for £125m in the closing hours of the 79-day transfer window. According to the BBC, the fee is a joint-British transfer record and marks the second time City have broken their own club record this summer, following the £116m arrival of Elliot Anderson.
The move makes the 25-year-old the first footballer in history to move for more than £100m twice, having joined Chelsea from Benfica for £107m in 2023. He joins a select group — alongside former England internationals Alan Shearer and Rio Ferdinand — who have broken the British transfer record twice during the Premier League era. The fee also matches what Liverpool paid Newcastle for striker Alexander Isak on the same date last summer.
Maresca's role in the deal
According to the BBC, City manager Enzo Maresca was the driving force behind the move, keen to reunite with his former Chelsea captain — a player he trusts and who already knows his tactical demands. Maresca took a similar approach in 2023, signing Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall for Chelsea after working with him at Leicester. Ahead of the deal, Maresca had hinted he wanted to add "a captain" to his squad; City lost experienced players including Bernardo Silva, John Stones and Rodri this summer, with Ruben Dias now wearing the captain's armband. In City's season-opening match against Bournemouth, centre-back Marc Guehi was surprisingly used in a defensive midfield role because a deal for Morocco international Ayyoub Bouaddi had not yet been finalised.
Fernandez's exit from Chelsea
Under Maresca, Fernandez helped Chelsea win the 2025 Europa Conference League and the Club World Cup, but his desire to leave grew after Maresca departed for City in January. His first preference was Real Madrid, but, as the BBC reports, the Spanish club never made an offer, considering him overpriced. New Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso tried to persuade Fernandez to stay, without success — the player was booed by his own fans in a pre-season friendly against Real Sociedad and was left out of the squad for the final matches before his exit. Chelsea had set a 14 August deadline for clubs to match their £120m valuation, but no offer arrived by then. City have started the season with back-to-back Premier League wins.
