Fernandez upgrade: Chelsea ready offer to sign the “best CM in the world”
Chelsea are now slipping away from the top four positions in the Premier League after coming unstuck against Unai Emery’s hard-to-beat Aston Villa.
Villa’s 2-1 victory away at Stamford Bridge was, remarkably, their 11th successive win in all competitions.
On the contrary, Enzo Maresca’s hosts just can’t seem to string together a run of consistent results at the moment, with only one league victory next to their name across a choppy December.
January, thankfully, is only around the corner now, as Chelsea prepare to potentially splash the cash on some big names to improve their ranks, ahead of a tricky 2026 to come in the Premier League.
Chelsea readying statement offer for new midfielder
Maresca would cut a frustrated figure at the full-time whistle, when stating that his side were “dominating” the game for large spells, before Emery’s inspired decision to bring on Ollie Watkins completely changed the tie.
Chelsea’s wasteful finishing on the day could spur the Blues into going all out for some fresh attackers in January, with Antoine Semenyo once on their radar, alongside the misfiring West Londoners reportedly being keen on a deal for Juventus winger Kenan Yıldız.
Away from potentially seeking out attacking reinforcements, new reports from Spain also suggest that Chelsea have an eye on a statement move for Real Madrid superstar Jude Bellingham, with a spectacular swap deal perhaps in the offing.
Indeed, the report claims, Chelsea are taken by the idea of winning themselves the Englishman, so much so that they’d be willing to offer Enzo Fernandez, to try and get their hands on the £200m-rated midfielder.
With Manchester United and Liverpool also named as other interested suitors, this could well be an intriguing transfer saga to keep tabs on when the window swings back open.
Chelsea would arguably be landing themselves a huge upgrade on their World Cup-winning ace, if the earth-shuddering swap deal were to get over the line.
Why Bellingham would be an upgrade on Enzo
Fernandez was nowhere near his best up against Villa, with two missed opportunities from the Argentine allowing the away side a way back into the contest.
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On top of that, the £107m midfielder also only managed to conjure up one key pass all match, as Maresca’s men succumbed to another defeat in December.
Consequently, Chelsea content creator Alex Goldberg would state that Fernandez is “not a superstar by any means,” with the number eight now seven matches deep without a goal or an assist coming his way, as the Blues begin to ponder whether bringing in Bellingham would be an upgrade.
Based on his just output for Los Blancos this season, he would be, with Bellingham heading home this effort last time out to secure a 2-0 victory for Xabi Alonso’s giants.
With a further two assists coming his way in December, with one even coming against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City in the Champions League, Bellingham is now up to five goals and four assists in all competitions for the campaign.
Hee continues to live up to his tag of delivering “game-changing moments,” which was once handed to him by Gareth Southgate when scoring this audacious overhead kick for England.
Fernandez lags behind on seven goal contributions for the season, on the flip side, with their head-to-head FBref numbers over the last year also further reinforcing why Bellingham has been lauded as “the best midfielder in the world” by Newcastle United machine Bruno Guimaraes.
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Indeed, the World Cup winner comes up short when looking at the table below, in many different areas of their respective games, with Bellingham trumping his South American counterpart when it comes to shot-creating actions and progressive passes averaged.
It is a similar story also when looking at the defensive grit on display, with more tackles and aerial duels won over the last year by Bellingham than by Fernandez.
|
Bellingham vs Enzo – last 365 days |
||
|---|---|---|
|
Stat – per 90 mins |
Bellingham |
Enzo |
|
Shots |
2.46 |
1.96 |
|
Shot-creating actions |
4.43 |
3.87 |
|
Attempted passes |
54.04 |
55.36 |
|
Pass completion % |
87.5% |
80.1% |
|
Progressive passes |
7.51 |
7.32 |
|
Progressive carries |
2.57 |
1.74 |
|
Successful take-ons |
1.75 |
0.55 |
|
Progressive passes received |
5.11 |
4.13 |
|
Tackles |
2.49 |
1.43 |
|
Aerials won |
1.39 |
0.70 |
|
Stats by FBref |
||
With five trophies already in his trophy cabinet, too, in Madrid, landing Bellingham’s signature could push Chelsea up the league standings into being title challengers again, with Fernandez failing in his aims to be Chelsea’s new superstar presence, when purchased for an eye-watering £107m two years ago.
Of course, he has shown off bursts of his immense quality at Stamford Bridge.
But, if they have to get rid of the 24-year-old to stand a chance at an extravagant deal for Bellingham, they would surely offload the ex-Benfica star in January.
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This Chelsea star struggled in their 2-1 loss at home to Aston Villa
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By
Joe Nuttall
