Enzo Fernandez will bring much more than just his on-field quality to Chelsea over time, Graham Potter has been told. The Blues splashed out £106.8million for the 22-year-old newly crowned World Cup winner on deadline day and could hand him his debut on Friday against Fulham.
The former Benfica man was the talk of the window with a potential deal rumbling on despite the apparent collapse of early window talks. After Jorginho left to join Arsenal it was imperative that Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali got Fernandez over the line though.
In the immediate short-term that is primarily a numbers game. With Denis Zakaria, N'Golo Kante and Mateo Kovacic all out injured there is no natural deep midfielder in the squad. Although Fernandez can play across the midfield, it is the No.6 role that he has become best accustomed with.
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It was there that he impressed so much for Argentina in Qatar, adding much needed mobility and technical skill to their squad. Speaking to Betway, former Arsenal and Chelsea midfielder Emanuel Petit admitted that these performances caught his eye, saying: "I have been watching Enzo Fernandez for a few months since he joined Benfica and he is a very talented player. I was very impressed with him in the midfield.
"He showed character and personality and he's very good with the ball. He is also very aggressive and always puts pressure on the opponent. He can play in different positions but his best position will be a defensive midfielder in front of defence, just like the way he played for Argentina during the World Cup. "
It's not just what he will do in possession that will benefit Chelsea though. The Blues have lost the core of their Champions League winning team in a short space of time with Edouard Mendy out of favour, Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger leaving last summer and Kante injured.
It has raised questions over the mentality of the squad and their capability to win trophies. Fernandez will help that. "He can also be a leader on the pitch," Petit added. "Since he started football as a young player, he was always a leader within this team. He showed that at Benfica. But joining the Premier League midseason is not easy because it is not the same as playing for Benfica.
"The Premier League is very fast. All those players joining Chelsea have big qualities but they're still young. Most of them still have to improve and reach the next step. He will need to step up and set up quickly as well as his teammates as they are all in a new team and dressing room. It will be a lot of pressure on him as they spent over £100million on him."
His time spent under incredible scrutiny at the World Cup will have helped for that too. At 21 he followed Kylian Mbappe and Paul Pogba in winning the young player of the tournament award. In fact, his decision before the World Cup may have been more important than anything he went on to do during it.
"I remember what he said about Messi when he wanted to retire from international football" Petit recalls. "So many Argentine players made phone calls and wrote a letter asking him to stay and we all saw what happened during the World Cup. This shows that Fernandez has the qualities to set the team up for success.
"But my question is what happens when things take a turn for the worst? The pressure will be high on all the players at that point. We also have to ask Graham Potter how he is going to manage all these players. I speak from the perspective of the senior players at Chelsea. In the past couple of weeks, they would have just seen their club spend all that money.
"I can see there could be tensions in terms of ego. I have experienced seeing new players and feeling that the competition is higher, and all of a sudden you have the feeling that those players will need to show their quality to earn their place. When ego is involved, things can turn around very badly.
"Graham Potter will have a big responsibility to manage such a large dressing room and build the perfect team on the pitch. Enzo Fernandez has got the quality on the pitch, he can be a leader. He has shown the maturity to be a leader for ages with Benfica as well as River Plate."
For a midfielder that won the lot as a player - a World Cup and European Championship alongside domestic titles in England and France - this is high praise from Petit and serves as promise for Chelsea fans who have a new star to adore.
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