What Enzo Fernandez did to Aleksandar Mitrovic to commence justifying Chelsea’s £106.7 million investment.
Enzo Fernandez was one of two debutants for Chelsea against Fulham on Friday night, while Noni Madueke also made his debut for the Blues.
If the struggle to get Enzo Fernandez to Chelsea was a tale that spanned from December to the verge of February, the midfielder’s ascension to Graham Potter’s starting XI seemed to occur in record time. As with Joao Felix, the Argentinian trained for the first time on Thursday amidst a scramble to authenticate his documents and found that it was sufficient to enter Chelsea’s roster immediately.
Behdad Eghbali and Todd Boehly were present at Stamford Bridge to observe their investment, and even if the team’s performance had been subpar, they would have been impressed by the World Cup champion. On his debut, Fernandez played 90 minutes and has possibly already made the jersey his own.
Spylax media evaluated the performance of the Premier League’s most expensive player during his debut in the league.
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With Mason Mount and Conor Gallagher occupying more advanced positions, Fernandez immediately pushed himself deep in Chelsea’s midfield. The £106.7 million signing had a slow start in terms of engagement during the opening moments, but he eventually pounced on Aleksandar Mitrovic’s feet on the halfway line to win a throw-in. After this, Fernandez and Gallagher collaborated effectively to pursue the ball from the Serbian striker near their own penalty area.
In the tenth minute, the former Benfica star demonstrated his aerial talent by winning a header in his own box to clear the Chelsea lines. The 22-year-old hasn’t been at Chelsea long, but he’s already been given one of the toughest assignments, marking Mitrovic from corners.
Fernandez was well up to the challenge as well. Once, he patrolled the outside of the 18-yard box and nudged his opponent until he was outside of it, before the Fulham forward attempted to fight back. Mitrovic initially attempted to bully Fernandez back, but was unsuccessful. He then attempted to get a penalty by collapsing to the ground after an enforced grapple.
Chelsea’s ace continued to rediscover his groove and again demonstrated his timing and judgment by clearing the ball well from Andreas Pereira’s feet at the halftime mark.
Fernandez dropped between Silva and Badiashile as the Argentine international sought to be an option regardless of where the ball was located on the field as Chelsea began to establish more organised build-up play. The River Plate product demonstrated his dynamism by collecting the ball brilliantly under pressure in his own penalty area and playing it on the turn to help Chelsea escape. Moreover, Fernandez demonstrated superb forward passing as he maneuvered tight pockets of open space.
The youthful midfielder continues to look at home at Chelsea’s midfield’s base and demonstrated his ability to link the defense and midfield. However, this should not detract from the pass he made to find Mason Mount on his way into Fulham’s box in order to create a fantastic opportunity for Kai Havertz.
It was a fantastic half from the new signing, who made more tackles (5) than any other player on the field and also won possession nine times and seven duels – more than the other 21 players.
As Chelsea attempted to establish themselves in the second half, Fernandez demonstrated his ability to exert pressure on the opponents farther up the field. Joao Palhinha, one of Fulham’s finest players, displayed his willingness to engage momentarily when the Cottagers’ star turned him with multiple movements.
During the second half, the Argentina international shown some of his character by going out of his way to shake hands with Reece James before he was replaced by Cesar Azpilicueta. The wingback made certain to embrace Fernandez as the teams took their positions prior to kickoff. With any luck, a potent combo is on the horizon.
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Kept the ball moving in the center of the field, but a weak pass was intercepted, resulting in a chance for Mitrovic that was saved by Kepa Arrizabalaga. However, he remained an encouraging presence for his comrades.
Andreas Pereira and Harrison Reed of Fulham’s midfield shifted wider from his center position, making it more difficult for Fernandez to cover the necessary territory, but he still performed admirably.
In the 72nd minute, he took his first long-range shot, which was not awful. The shot by Fernandez was meant to infuse aggression back into Chelsea’s play, but it missed the corner where the post and crossbar meet.
Fernandez shown the ability to retain the ball for a longer duration when under pressure from Harrison Reed, and was finally able to recycle Chelsea’s possession with few alternatives available to him.
Even though it was his debut, he was unafraid to assert his influence in the game and was not scared to seize control in the last minutes. As the clock wound down, he consistently gained control from his defense and midfield partners and attempted to release Ben Chilwell down the wing. Again, he won a header against Mitrovic to prevent Fulham from advancing the ball up the field. His physicality was on display once more against Carlos Vinicius, as he was able to prevent the striker from clearing the ball in stoppage time.
Verdict
It is hard to disagree with Potter’s opinion that Fernandez handled the situation’magnificently’ since he displayed a very promising performance. There is no question that the midfielder will improve as he becomes more acquainted to his colleagues, but he has already demonstrated that he has value even in isolation.
His presence brought a layer of assurance that meshed nicely with Thiago Silva and Benoit Badiashile, making Chelsea appear more in charge than they have on many occasions this season, despite their already stellar defensive record.
Only Badiashile among his Chelsea colleagues made more clearances, and he generated six accurate long balls out of seven attempts. He was also able to draw fouls, as only Badiashile and Silva accumulated more touches.
Not at all a negative first impression.
