A year ago
Chelsea made history in January when they signed Enzo Fernandez from Benfica. The deal makes the Argentinian World Cup champion the most expensive player ever signed by an English team in Premier League history.
Enzo Fernandez has been signed for 121 million euros following his stellar performance for Argentina at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Manchester City star Jack Grealish is the second most expensive player ever to sign for an English club. The England international joined Manchester City after his performances for his childhood club, Aston Villa, caught the eye of some of Europe's top shooters. Cityzens have signed the striker for 117.5 million euros.
The third most expensive player to ever join a Premier League club is Romelu Lukaku. The Belgian striker was resigned by Chelsea after winning Italy's Serie A with Inter, ending the season as the league's top scorer. Chelsea paid 113 million euros to sign the former Manchester United star.
The fourth player on the list is former Manchester United star Paul Pogba. When the Red Devils recruited the French player from Juventus, he became one of the most expensive players in football history. The Red Devils paid Juventus 105 million euros.
Manchester United are also involved in the fifth most expensive transfer in Premier League history. The Reds signed former Ajax star Antony Santos last summer, paying 95 million euros for his signature.
Here is a list of the ten most expensive players signed by an English club:
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Manchester City 1-0 Chelsea:
Frank Lampard laid the groundwork for Argentina's World Cup winner on a bad team, but for 23/24 a new coach needed to set up the people around for Fernandez's talent to shine to its fullest.
(Photo courtesy of Getty)
The end of the 2022/23 season cannot come fast enough for Chelsea, more than any other Premier League club.
A pair of transfer windows have resulted in a major roster change with many coming this summer, while the appointment of Mauricio Pochettino must finally end months of odd decision-making in the game structure. club.
There is so much to deal with that even caretaker manager Frank Lampard can't take great responsibility for their placement in the bottom half of the table - despite the current win rate of 11%, after a 1-0 loss. ahead of re-crowned champions Manchester City, certainly subject to a lot of scrutiny of its own. All in all, it's far worse than a season that could be considered a forgettable season; Lessons must be learned, mistakes corrected, some remaining positives laid out as the foundation for next season and beyond. There aren't many, but Enzo Fernandez is one of them.
As a 106m midfielder, declaring him 'positive' is perhaps the least expected of Chelsea fans, but like none of the 210m spent on Mykhailo Mudryk, Marc Cucurella , Benoit Badiashile, Noni Madueke and David Datro Fofana were not even successful. to that extent so far - as well as the 10m loan fee for Joao Felix - so the World Cup-winning No 5 certainly qualifies as a notable exception.
At the Etihad Stadium, the good and the bad around Fernandez's play were exposed. It's not that the bad parts are mostly his fault, mind; rather the bad aspects of the team around him have clearly let him down and have become more and more in recent weeks.
For example, he indirectly participated in the opening match of Man City. Fernandez makes a quick smart pass - very often and to be expected - into space to gain possession of the central defenders. Unfortunately for the Blues, Wesley Fofana's first pass to him went awry, Cole Palmer went too far down the line and Julian Alvarez did the rest.
Likewise in the first half, Fernandez launched a messy defence, darting out from midfield to close one City player and then another. He turned, watched Kai Havertz follow him and out for the next challenge only to find he didn't mind. Enzo scolded his teammates, did it on his own, fell, pressed, turned again and this time Conor Gallagher didn't get close to his teammates either. The Argentinian held out his hand, clearly disgusted, and died.
Time and again on this almost unrelated occasion - the match that became the focal point of the title celebrations after Arsenal's most recent suffocating defeat - Fernandez has been exasperated by the lack of effort, lack of effort, lack of effort. move, lack of quality of teammates. .
He and several others in dark blue shirts interspersed the game with examples of technique:
a slick cross for Raheem Sterling to assist in the first half, another cross in the final moments nearly equalized for Cesar Azpilicueta. Fernandez was capable of receiving the ball at half-time and making the pass he saw; Unfortunately, too many of the players taller than him lacked the will or ability to make the necessary runs at the right time.
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