Enzo 'Terry' Fernandez | Vice-Captain of Chelsea
- Thread starter Samid
- Start date
Exactly. For me he has been consistently good for you. For United's sake I was quite happy he did not have Gallagher's support yesterday. So got tag teamed.
He is a class player just not worth anywhere near 120m.
Given the way big club tactics work nowadays, the most valuable midfield profiles are 8s who have an all around game but can powerfully and consistently impact the final third or 6s that can both shield a defense playing a high line and have the passing and carrying skills to be a pivot player in possession. Those profiles are hard to find and worth their weight in gold. A guy like Enzo who doesn't have much final third third impact but also doesn't have the power, defensive instincts, and duel winning capacity to be a pivot 6 is never going to be worth 100m let alone 120m. He can be an important player in a top team but his profile is much easier to find than the others and there are also different kinds of midfielders you could have instead of him (ie, a more athletic runner, rather than a more technical player).
Given the way big club tactics work nowadays, the most valuable midfield profiles are 8s who have an all around game but can powerfully and consistently impact the final third or 6s that can both shield a defense playing a high line and have the passing and carrying skills to be a pivot player in possession. Those profiles are hard to find and worth their weight in gold. A guy like Enzo who doesn't have much final third third impact but also doesn't have the power, defensive instincts, and duel winning capacity to be a pivot 6 is never going to be worth 100m let alone 120m. He can be an important player in a top team but his profile is much easier to find than the others and there are also different kinds of midfielders you could have instead of him (ie, a more athletic runner, rather than a more technical player).
Completely agree.
I said before he signed for Chelsea that he didn't have the physical and athletic capability for a midfielder which was a concern in a EPL that was becoming more and more technical, tactical aswell as even more physical where eating up ground quickly is a requirement for central midfielders to contain opposition transitions for teams who want to press high.
It remains to be seen what happens but Pochettino's tactics don't really rely on a player like Enzo but rather his tactics require midfielders who can get the ball forwarded vertically, whilst having the physical and athletic ability to control the game in large spaces. It's why I feel he's attempted to push Enzo in a advanced forward role, which as you've pointed out, isn't a role that suits him. The ideal midfield for Pochettino is one with Caicedo, Lavia and Gallagher because all three players have the ability in possession along with the ability to cover ground quickly. But Pochettino will be forced to play Enzo due to the money paid for him and he will have to find a solution to his inability out of possession if he is to succeed as Chelsea head coach.
Unless you have a team that can throttle the opponent in possession and have the bulk of possession, it's wise to think about how your team will contain/control the opponent's transition in large spaces. And that's something I don't believe my club United have done in the last 10 years and currently Chelsea have done the same and then hired a head coach in Pochettino who doesn't really play with a Enzo type of midfielder who lacks physically and athletically.
The other is to always include the add-ons when it's a rival team's player but only state the base fee if it's your own.
This reminds me one of his sprints against Netherlands during the WC, my grandmother could beat him in a foot race. He has many qualities but speed isn't one of them.
He is a class player but in todays game especially in PL the the amount of Pressing and Physicality its very difficult to build a team around him. Everyone likes a player like him but its difficult to build a team around him. He can probably improve an already functional team though.
Also for a possession based team while its possible to find a similar player but difficult to find with such technical quality but eventually this is not anymore a necessary profile to have in the team.
I’d still take him at United in a heartbeat
Moral of the story being stay the hell away from Benfica players! Felix, Nunez and now Fernandez, all sold for big money and all of them failing to live up to the price tag. They’re all still young and may yet kick on but right now they’re worth nowhere near.
Most people look at their xg and assume it means that Poch is great and better than ETH.
I've watched a few games and I'd agree Enzo has been good, for the ones I caught he's just kept the midfield ticking over. Which is supposed to be his main job.
He’s clearly a good footballer but they overpaid by £40m
Ruben Dias, Ederson, Di Maria and Matic all moved from Benfica for big money too and all were top class for the clubs they moved to. The latter two were small fees by modern standards but were considered sizeable at the time. If anything, to me it seems players moving from the Portuguese clubs (not just Benfica) to the bigger leagues have a reasonably high success rate overall, even if there are some flops every once in a while which is normal.
As for Enzo, having seen all his club games this season as well as most of them last season (I did skip a bunch near the end when Lampard came back and the season became a total write-off) I'm not worried about him even a little bit. Watching him closely it's clear to me he's already a very good player and injuries permitting he should only get better as he gets more maturity in his game and the team build some much needed chemistry together. Most midfielders of Enzo's type don't usually peak until their late 20s. For me he's already performing at a similar level as Jorginho did for us, which is definitely good enough.
Whether Enzo is ever going to be 'worth' the 120M€ spent on him is another question entirely and chances are he won't because the fee was a clear overpayment due to desperation and the club realizing that overpaying in January was probably our only chance of actually landing a player like him. But fee aside I'm very happy to have him in our squad.
He's good, just needs a defensive midfielder for around 100m next to him that can...oh wait.
He's good, just needs an attacking midfielder for around 100m next to him that can bring the best out of him.
He's good, just needs an attacking midfielder for around 100m next to him that can bring the best out of him.
Agreed but James Ward-Prowse walks into our midfield at the moment so it's not saying much.
To be fair - I do think Lavia/Caceido/Fernandez will work well once they are all fit but then their peak might be a few seasons away given how young they are, not sure anyone has that much patience in football.
Enzo is a first class player who still requires development even though he has been on a very steep upward curve.
I would have him at United in a second but wish it was at the fee Wolves wanted to pay.
I would have him at United in a second but wish it was at the fee Wolves wanted to pay.
Aye, me too. He was shite against us the other night but he's already a very good player and we probably haven't seen the best of him yet.
He's what Samir Nasri would look like if he was handsome.
I've watched a fair bit of football this year for all sides, my main takeaway from him are he is not physical enough and the fact that Gallagher being out is lauded as a reason he didn't play well against us is not a good look imo, it's all very reminiscent of the excuses made for Pogba as in he needs a DM, he needs to play off the left, he needs this or that
I can see every team thinking they can get in and around him, Mctominay scored 2 goals from CM and wasn't tracked by either him or Caicedo, Chelsea conceded what nearly 30 shots that means the midfield is not protecting the back 4 and he is a big part of the midfield.
I can see every team thinking they can get in and around him, Mctominay scored 2 goals from CM and wasn't tracked by either him or Caicedo, Chelsea conceded what nearly 30 shots that means the midfield is not protecting the back 4 and he is a big part of the midfield.
Does that midfield have enough going forward? Would need a prime Liverpool front three to compensate I think, along with James and Chilwell staying fit and firing.
Nkuku is supposed to be very good, they have a number of good full backs who should add to the attack, Mudryck I'm not sure on bar him being very fast. Sterling is good although I think he's always been a bit overrated. Really they are like many teams I feel and desperate for a top CF.
Overpaid for him but still think he's a decent player, probably better suited to La Liga or Serie A though.
CM next to Casemiro. That would be a crack midfield next to Bruno. Enzo is very good with ball retention and keeping the ball. Something United’s midfield badly needs.
Enzo is a class player. No two ways about it
Never. No player, IMHO, is worth up to 100M.
It’s kind of ridiculous when you look at the levels of scrutiny Pogba faced from the media then look at Enzo or Caicedo who have been nothing short of underwhelming so far and not so much as a peep from the geniuses at sky sports questioning their mentality.
I genuinely am in shock at how many people are rating him so highly and would take him at United. He seems sluggish, weak and ponderous and not at all suited to the Premier League in my opinion
He's a typical over hyped player after a world cup. I'm not saying he's a bad player just nowhere near as good as the fee or people were making out based on the WC.
That's not true at all, some definitely are, Enzo is definitely not one of those players though.
Clearly a few players are, but that is reserved for the top 3-5 players on the planet. Enzo isn’t in the top 50.
He started well when he first came in - not of the level of the price of course, just a "probably Chelsea's best player" level. But then he dipped. Now he's just a fairly good attacking midfielder with moments of quality where you can still see the player he could be. At 22 he still has lots of time to become a great player but it gets more and more likely that it wont be at Chelsea if its going to happen. It may be that he needs to go and join a team like Bayern, PSG, Madrid etc. and playing next to teammates already doing well he can step up and show what he can do. He has not been and doesnt look like a player to kickstart Chelsea into title challengers despite them signing some good players around him. They have almost all struggled just as much. Perhaps Cole Palmer is the one exception who has come in and done very well right away, but again Enzo started well too...
Got dragged off today finally did he?
Still finding it unbelievable the abuse/pressure put on Pogba, Maguire, Antony in the media due to their fees yet this bloke just gets away with it.
Still finding it unbelievable the abuse/pressure put on Pogba, Maguire, Antony in the media due to their fees yet this bloke just gets away with it.
Nice player but when you pay that for a player, you are going to be judged differently. I suspect price is weighing heavily on many of those Chelsea players as we know well....
We get some stick but like you said, others get away with it.....how much did they pay for the CB from Leicester....?
Baffles me there's constant agreement that he's a huge talent. He's a real nothing player. Doesn't provide in attack, a liability defensively. Says it all even with caicedo and Gallagher in midfield who are pressing monsters he still looks a liability defensively.
He's Neat and tidy on the ball but with negligible impact. Could anyone really say Chelsea would have been pretty much at all worse off if they hadn't signed him?
He's Neat and tidy on the ball but with negligible impact. Could anyone really say Chelsea would have been pretty much at all worse off if they hadn't signed him?
If you are going to spend that kind of money on a player you go get someone that is a game changer. What did Bayern pay for Kane? 100mil? Id rather have Kane than Enzo.
They paid it cause he’d just won a WC, and they bought from a position of desperation, something United fans know all too well is a recipe for disaster.
Liverpool made the much shrewder signing with Mac Allister for less than third of the price.
Every team on the planet would rather a Harry Kane. Safe to say Boehly & his team make the Glazers look alright. The money they have spent in such a short space of time on “meh” players is absolutely incomprehensible.
Last edited:
He looks like a Pep/City player to me. I think he'd have done a really good job for them this season filling in for De Bruyne. He's obviously not at that level yet but he miles better than Nunes and Kovacic.
I wonder how long he will stick at Chelsea as they continue to flounder?
I wonder how long he will stick at Chelsea as they continue to flounder?
Hard to get away since he signed that (in football terms) life long contract there
£80m