Enzo Maresca forced to addresses £100m transfer rumours after pressure from Spanish media | OneFootball

The last few days have been full of transfer speculation around Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez.

The fact that no potential deal makes sense (as far as we can see) hasn’t stopped tons of sources in his native Argentina linking him to Real Madrid, nor has it stopped the midfielder flirting with the Spanish giants.

Enzo Maresca shoots down Fernandez departure rumours

Enzo Fernandez with a Real Madrid logo. (Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)

It reached the point where his manager Enzo Maresca had to address the issue in his press conference today. As you’d expect, he gave the concept pretty short shrift.

“Enzo is a main player for us. He is one of the captains, one of the leaders. This season he’s been very, very good,” Maresca said.

“He can be even better next season, starting from the first day. So, nothing to say about speculation. He is focused on us. This is the most important thing. Yes [he is staying],” the coach concluded.

It’s nice to have that definitively put. The speculation is really just a result of Fernandez playing well, and we’re fine with that. He cost us £106m, we wouldn’t sell him for less than that, and Madrid can’t offer anything close. That should be the end of it, for now.

Maresca on high pressure Champions League decider

“I see them exactly the same way they were almost all season – they know that this is the game, the last one, the most important one… we try to give them in every single game some extra motivation.”

We’re not sure what form that will take, but it really needs to be solid and maybe something new. Our last huge away game against our Champions League competition came two weeks ago against Newcastle, and we totally bottled it after a slow start.

Whatever Maresca tells these players, it needs to get them starting faster than they did that day.