Chelsea Sets 120 Million Pound Deadline for Manchester City to Close Enzo Fernandez Deal

5:00 p.m. in England, noon in Buenos Aires. That was the time Chelsea circled on the calendar to finally put an end to the Enzo Fernandez saga. And on that very Friday, with the clock ticking, it was Enzo Maresca who had to sit down in front of the microphones and answer questions about a player who is no longer his but who keeps coming up in every press conference.

The Italian coach, now in charge at Manchester City, stuck to the script. When the Argentine midfielder's name came up, he responded with the same caution he had shown weeks earlier: "No, right now, again, I have to give you the same answer as day one. It will always be the same: he's a player at another club, and I don't think it's right to talk about players from other clubs, just as I don't think it's right for other clubs to talk about our players. That's why I won't say anything about players who aren't with us."

The question everyone really wanted answered was more direct: would City make a move that same day? There, Maresca was even more blunt. "Not today, to be honest. I don't think we'll do anything today," he said, making clear that Chelsea's ultimatum risked expiring without anyone on the Manchester side rushing to meet it.

The number Chelsea put on the table is no small figure: 120 million pounds, roughly $161.8 million, is the valuation the Blues placed on the World Cup winner from Qatar 2022 to let him go. According to ESPN, the Stamford Bridge club set that specific deadline for any interested party, with Manchester City among them, to match the figure. After that hour passed, Chelsea's stance is not to entertain any offers.

A Bond That Doesn't Fade Easily

The relationship between Maresca and Fernandez runs deeper than most. They shared a locker room at Chelsea during the 2024/25 season and the first half of 2025/26, and in that time they won two titles together: the Conference League and the Club World Cup. Right as that bond was at its strongest, the club decided to fire the coach, who ended up landing in the very dugout Pep Guardiola had left vacant.

Now, from his new post, signing Fernandez is believed to be among Maresca's priorities, a player who has also been linked with Real Madrid as his desire to leave London grows. And there's a factor that could speed everything up: Rodri's move to Barcelona, still not finalized, could push Chelsea to shuffle its pieces faster than expected.

On that negotiation, Maresca himself offered a line that sums up the market's uncertain mood: "We can sell players and buy players, anything can happen. I just saw Rodri, gave him a hug, he looks good, we'll see what happens."

With Chelsea's deadline ticking away and Maresca's silence standing as the only official response, Enzo Fernandez's future remains unresolved. The only certainty, for now, is that on that Friday, Manchester City wasn't about to rush into anything.