Why Chelsea MUST build the team around Enzo Fernandez

Why the club need to build around the World Cup winner and what a potential side would look like in the future with himself at the heart of it.

Enzo Fernandez is the kind of midfielder that any club dreams of having. He’s technically one of the best in the world, he’s combative, he’s a leader and he can play a variety of roles. 

In his first six months as a Chelsea player, he stood out as an eight-out-of-ten midfielder in every game in Potter and Lampard’s dysfunctional Chelsea teams. That’s how I knew he was special. 

At the start of this season, he produced one of the best midfield performances I’ve seen in a long time against Liverpool (so good it got a segment on Sky Sports), but the rest of the campaign so far has seen him play out of position and in an unbalanced midfield three. 

Mauricio Pochettino has played him as a number 10 or as an eight which has left him and Moises Caicedo too far apart from each other. The South American duo need to play as a double pivot for this team to succeed. 

We saw this in our last two home games against Preston and Fulham, Enzo dropped deeper and looked like his old, classy self, but he was also able to make use of his defensive abilities to help Caicedo out and it worked both times. 

I’m praying that Pochettino has clocked onto this and continues to use them as a midfield pairing because we will control the games and also be much more solid defensively. 

It’s simple, if we can get the best out of Enzo, we get the best out of Caicedo and all of a sudden that’s an elite, functional midfield that’ll be the reason we’ll dominate so many games. 

The board aren’t stupid, they knew they had to fork out the money for this midfield duo and it’s a shambles that Poch hasn’t been able to get them playing well until a few weeks ago. He simply has to realise that sticking Enzo and Caicedo in front of a back four makes the team a lot more functional.

Playing the double-pivot frees up another attacking space which unfortunately means that another midfielder has to miss out. For me (and I know this won’t be popular), it’s Conor Gallagher. I’m not taking anything away from what he’s done this season, but I truly believe our best team doesn’t include him. 

I was left frustrated countless times against Fulham (and so was Poch it seems) when he’d take the ball and slow it down, or not be able to find the right pass. We’re going to have to be ruthless to reach the top again and that’s why I would understand if the club sold him. He has the lowest technical level in the squad. 

With what we have available at the club now, this is the team of players I’d feel comfortable with starting at a top-level side. 

The three blanks in this side are at left-back, attacking midfielder and striker. It is no secret that those are positions we will look to improve in the coming windows.

The other position we will look to upgrade is centre-back but I’d wait to see how Wesley Fofana gets on before making any rash decisions, not forgetting we also have Benoit Badiashile and Axel Disasi. 

If we do go for a new centre-back, I’m happy with the targets that are floating around at the minute which are Ousmane Diamonde, Marc Guehi and Jean-Clair Todibo. They’re all fantastic options. 

In terms of a left-back, everyone’s dream option is Alphonso Davies, and whilst I reckon there is a chance we can get him, I still think he ends up at Madrid. 

I was gutted to see Valentin Barco sign for Brighton as I really rate him, but his signing could open up a door to get Pervis Estupinan (although I do not want to see us do more business with the Seagulls). 

For me, the wildcard shout and a very underrated option would be Antonee Robinson. He’s been very impressive for Fulham this year and would be a player that gives us balance down the left-hand side and allows Colwill to play in his natural position. He’s played 83 times in the Premier League and wouldn’t be too expensive. I think he’d be smart business. 

The attacking midfielder shout is a tough one because we won’t want to block Kendry Paez’s pathway nor Angelo Gabriel or the potential signing of Estevao Willian, but Michael Olise would be a fantastic signing for us and the idea of him and Cole Palmer linking up down the right-hand side of the pitch excites me. 

Other dream options would be someone like Jamal Musiala or Florian Wirtz, but I don’t see those happening especially as we won’t be playing in the UCL next year.

Finally, upfront, Chelsea want Victor Osimhen and I believe Chelsea will get Victor Osimhen but I’ve seen a lot of fans who are worried about the potential signing and their worries are valid.

He is an unbelievable finisher but there are parts of his game that need work and that could be scary especially as he’d cost north of £100m. 

Chelsea will go for him if they can get the finances right but another option I’d love to see at Chelsea is Alexander Isak. Newcastle are in hot waters with FFP right now and have admitted that they may need to sell a big asset so I’d love to see us test the waters on the Swedish striker. 

I know January signings will be difficult, but next year, if we can build a squad something like this around Enzo Fernandez then we will be on our way to being back to where we want to be. 

By Will Reyner