David Moyes revealed that he discussed Enzo Fernandez with Benfica boss Roger Schmidt ahead of the January transfer window. It did not take long for the West Ham manager to establish he was not interested in the Argentina international, however, with Fernandez's price-tag proving substantial.
The World Cup winner joined Chelsea on transfer deadline day for a Premier League record £106.7million fee. Fernandez went straight into Chelsea's starting line-up against Fulham after just a solitary training session and is set to be in Graham Potter's plans once against West Ham.
The midfielder made an immediate impact in Chelsea's side with a solid performance and will continue to adjust to the Premier League. However, Moyes was well aware of Fernandez's quality ahead of the World Cup, so preparation on Chelsea's new charge was underway before the former Everton boss got planning to welcome the Blues to the London Stadium.
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Moyes said: "I knew about him when he was at Benfica. We didn't know about him quite so much when got over. But I spoke to the Benfica manager about him in November who'd given him incredible praise about how good of a player he was. So I knew he was on the radar. And obviously, the World Cup highlighted what his capabilities were.
"We try to give the players the information we can about the opposition. But the players aren't daft. They'll have watched the World Cup, seen recent Premier League games. But it's quite difficult with Chelsea because they have got so many new players in."
Was Moyes interested in completing a deal? "Not when I heard the price I wasn't!" The Scot simply replied.
Another player that has been on Chelsea's radar will take to the pitch on Saturday afternoon in Declan Rice. Fernandez has already admitted to learning from the England international, and despite the money spent in January, Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali could look to do a deal to complete a midfield transformation.
They will be far from teammates come Saturday lunchtime and Moyes believes both players will be relishing the battle in the centre of the pitch.
He said: "I would think so. Dec loves his football. He knows a lot about it. We watch and we talk about all the good players and Enzo Fernandez is an excellent player. He showed it in the World Cup. So it'll be a good game. He might be thinking similar about playing against Dec."
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