On August 26, local time, The Athletic's analysis pointed out that Enzo's departure from Chelsea has become a focal point of the summer transfer window. Although he delivered a standout attacking performance last season, the club believes there is sporting and managerial justification for selling him. Enzo is not suited as a defensive midfielder, and moving him forward affects Palmer's performance. In Alonso's new system, his position is also not indispensable. If Manchester City makes an adequate offer, Chelsea may choose to sell and bring in a more suitable number 6 midfielder. However, finding a replacement is not easy, and high market prices also represent a risk.

On Monday, Fulham supporters at Craven Cottage gave Enzo a preview of what he may face frequently at various Premier League stadiums this season, and it remains uncertain whether he will be a Chelsea or Manchester City player next month.

Before kick-off, when Enzo's name was read among Chelsea's substitutes, hostile boos erupted. As the second half was about to start, he walked onto the pitch toward the bench, and the home supporters let out deafening jeers.

After losing to Argentina in a heated World Cup semifinal this summer, England's wounds remain open. Additionally, Enzo's fellow countryman Valentín Barco was at his side. Earlier in Atlanta, Bellingham had slapped Valentín Barco for celebrating Enzo's equalizing goal in front of England's players. Such a scene undoubtedly inflamed the anger further.

Chelsea supporters at Craven Cottage responded to Enzo with applause and chanted his name. Football inevitably has partisan divisions, and attacks from rival supporters often unite their own fans more. At the final whistle, most supporters in the away section showed him the same backing. Before leaving, Enzo also gave his match shirt to a supporter.

If Enzo joins Manchester City under Enzo Maresca, no one expects that goodwill to last long. Maresca was never popular at Stamford Bridge and is now widely disliked.

People are already growing tired of this transfer standoff. After Chelsea's 3-2 victory over Fulham on Monday, manager Xabi Alonso also showed some fatigue when discussing the prolonged nature of the deal. When asked about Enzo's future on Match of the Day, he said: "In football, nothing surprises me. We will wait and see. I hope we find out what happens in the future, but it depends on how this week unfolds."

From an off-field perspective, Chelsea's reasons for selling Enzo this summer are easily understood. Through his public statements and the actions of his agent Javier Pastore, Enzo has caused problems for the club throughout much of 2024. He publicly criticized the club's decision-makers last season and was subsequently ambiguously linked to Real Madrid; this summer, he took no action to discourage interest from Maresca and Manchester City.

Even if his goal was merely to stay at Stamford Bridge and secure a significantly improved contract, his strategy was provocative and confrontational. If he stays and gets a pay raise, who can guarantee a similar situation will not arise again in a year or two? If the two parties cannot agree on a new contract, then at this stage, what assures Chelsea that he will be a player who will listen to Alonso's instructions this season?

Less has been publicly discussed about the sporting impact of letting Enzo leave Chelsea. Enzo's departure could significantly boost Maresca's Manchester City, but keeping him also carries a very real risk: the team Chelsea is building under Alonso could be noticeably weakened as a result.

Chelsea supporters who back Enzo may be surprised by this statement. Without doubt, he was one of Chelsea's best players last season. He scored 10 goals as a midfielder for the first time in a single Premier League season, with 15 goals across all competitions. He successfully transformed into one of Chelsea's best attacking midfielders since Frank Lampard, also being a highly talented passer, which deserves full credit.

But this transformation also shows that Enzo's career trajectory at Chelsea has been quite particular. In January 2023, Chelsea signed him from Benfica for €120 million (approximately £106 million), originally expecting him to succeed Jorginho as a new generation of world-class defensive midfielder. He played in this position for much of the disastrous second half of the 2022-23 season and during Mauricio Pochettino's tenure in 2023-24.

The problem is that Chelsea's defense was never good enough when Enzo played in a deeper midfield role. Although he has worked hard to improve his fitness in recent years, his athleticism sometimes limited him in covering large areas of midfield, and his defensive awareness was not sharp enough to effectively disrupt opposing attacks.

Pochettino indeed doubted the viability of Enzo and Moisés Caicedo forming a holding midfielder partnership. Even with Conor Gallagher pressing actively up front, Chelsea were frequently undone in defensive transitions and conceded 63 goals in the 2023-24 Premier League season.

Maresca's solution was to push Enzo to left attacking midfield, while an inverted fullback partnered Caicedo in a deeper midfield pairing, reducing Chelsea's possession-based play to keep the team in a more compact shape and better deal with counterattacks. These adjustments helped stabilize Chelsea's overall structure and allowed the Argentine to play his best football since arriving at Stamford Bridge, but at the cost of impacting other aspects of the team, most notably Cole Palmer's significant performance drop.

By current indications, Alonso will not adopt the same arrangement in his 3-4-2-1 system. Enzo would be well-suited to play as an attacking midfielder on the left side behind João Felix, but Morgan Rogers, an expensive signing this summer, has around £117 million worth of reasons to occupy that position and partner with Palmer. Estêvão is fully capable of stepping in if either is absent.

Enzo frequently plays in a deeper role for Argentina and has achieved great success. However, in addition to acknowledging the fundamental differences between international and club football, it should also be remembered that Argentina's defense looked vulnerable in nearly every match in the last two World Cups, conceding 4 goals in two games against Cape Verde and Egypt during their run to the 2026 World Cup final.

It is clearly unfair to attribute these issues to a single player, especially a midfielder like Enzo, but these circumstances help us view the situation more comprehensively. None of the managers appointed by Clearlake Capital over the last three and a half years has been able to make the Enzo-Caicedo holding midfielder partnership work effectively without the ball. Alonso is very intelligent and may have tactical solutions in mind, but if Chelsea can secure a satisfactory offer from Manchester City, would it not be simpler to let Enzo go and use the money to strengthen the squad?

However, with the transfer window drawing to a close, this path is not without risk. Many of the most important midfielders in the transfer market this summer have already moved, and many of those who haven't are playing for clubs unwilling to sell them, or those clubs have no pressing financial need that would force them to compromise their seasonal objectives by selling players. Alex Scott and Adam Wharton are examples of this.

It is entirely possible that Chelsea could sell Enzo to Manchester City for more than they paid for him in January 2023, but still have to pay considerably more than his real value for his replacement. This is today's inflated transfer market, but compared to keeping Enzo and leaving Alonso with an intractable squad balance problem, selling him may still be more worthy of consideration.

Even in defeat, Fulham successfully exposed Chelsea's structural defensive problems at Craven Cottage. Caicedo's return from injury will help, but Lavia also has his own defensive limitations. Signing an appropriate number 6 midfielder could establish an effective balance for Chelsea's currently more threatening attack.

Who this player will be is up to Chelsea's sporting management, which has always maintained a list of potential targets. During the evaluation process in the final days of August, a wealth of evidence will undoubtedly lead Chelsea's management to one conclusion: Enzo is not the right fit.

Traduzido por IA.

O site do AF já está online! Acesse notícias completas, comentários, detalhes de partidas e estatísticas no seu computador. Acesse: www.allfootballapp.com