‘Are we going to play all the right-backs as centre midfielders?!’ - Chelsea legend Gus Poyet reacts to £125m Enzo Fernandez sale & lack of deadline day replacement

It came as little surprise when South American superstar Fernandez headed for the exits at Stamford Bridge, given that he had been shuffling towards them for some time. Madrid, at Real or Atletico, was mooted as a potential landing spot at one stage. He has ended up in Manchester.

A record-equalling fee has taken the 25-year-old to the Etihad Stadium and reunited him with former Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca. He cost as much as Liverpool striker Alexander Isak, following his 2025 switch from Newcastle to Anfield.

Fernandez has jumped a ship that appears to have reached calmer waters, with Cole Palmer and Morgan Rogers generating plenty of positivity in west London. He has, however, left a notable void to be filled in Xabi Alonso’s plans - with engine room cover a little thin on the ground.

Asked about a big-money move completed late in the summer window, ex-Chelsea midfielder Poyet - who was speaking courtesy of Gambling.com, the trusted guide for betting sites - told GOAL: “This Man City is new. He's [Maresca] not Pep Guardiola. He's not the same. I watched the games. He's not the same. Similar. There is some similarity.

“Also, how is he going to play? Remember that when you play for certain teams, I'll make you an example - you play in a normal team, we go together and we play with Enzo and he can play wherever he likes because he's better than all of us, probably. But then you go to a club where you have to hold a position and maybe now you're playing back to goal. Is that the strength of Enzo? Back to goal? Maybe not.

“So you need to see, are you playing one No.6 or double-six? He's going to play here in the middle, we're going to play on the front. So many things need to get the team performing, for you to perform.

“I said before as well, Enzo was a proper number six in the national team of Argentina in the World Cup. Six. And the best games for Chelsea, he was not six. He was behind the striker, arriving in the box late. The best games. When he was playing in the middle, he couldn't cope with the pace of the game.

“Now, the good thing for Enzo, he knows the coach and the coach wants him and they're pushing for him. And now he's going to go to see Man City, double-six, the best in the world, I suppose - 125m, 116m, Anderson and Enzo Fernandez. And Bouaddi. They will be the best centre-midfielders in the world, these three.

“I think Man City is going to challenge for the title. Because you've got [Erling] Haaland, because you've got a good system, because you've got good wingers. Now, they need to really go to that level. So it's going to be interesting.

“Chelsea, we need [Moises] Caicedo back as soon as possible. We need [Romeo] Lavia to be fit, we need Reece James to be fit. And we need [Valentin] Barco to step up and adapt quickly and perform.

“And because the players that normally don't play or they get injured, they're not going to be there. Something is going to be missing. And we saw that already with Gusto playing centre-midfielder. Are we going to play all the right-backs as centre midfielders now?”

Poyet added when asked who has benefited most from the nine-figure deal that took Fernandez from Chelsea to City and whether value for money is a commodity that still exists in modern football: “I think the prices now, they are not realistic. It's very difficult to put quality of money on because then there is a template. How much is the value? How much is the value of [Kylian] Mbappe? 500 million? I don't know, I'm just saying, or even Harry Kane now. So at the moment it's what the people want to pay.

“The situation with Enzo, I think it deteriorated itself when those rumours about Real Madrid came out, that he went to Madrid, or his family, blah, blah, blah. After that, I think that Enzo was not happy for some reason. And it looked from outside, I don't know Enzo Fernandez, I don't know anyone close to him, but from outside it looks like he was going. That was in my mind, I think. I said to many Chelsea fans, ‘I think he's going’.

“I was waiting for the replacement. For some reason, that also we don't know, clubs and directors and chairmen, everything is always delayed to the last day of the transfer window. You know, they want to make the TV channels very important, to make this crazy last few hours. But I don't think too many people won from this situation, apart from Enzo, I suppose, because it was his decision as well.

“Probably Man City paid a little bit more than everybody was expecting. Chelsea lost their player, they didn't get the replacement. The player from Monaco [Lamine Camara] that was going to Chelsea, went to Sunderland, didn't go to Chelsea, didn't go to Sunderland.

“It’s because all the deals, they have to be done in the last minute. When we coaches, we want everything to be done as soon as possible. Yes, we understand the financial situation, and that's not something that we can complain about. But, you know, teams like Chelsea, Man City and these ones, five million, what’s the difference, five million more or less.

“When you have the replacement, or when you have the time to work with another player, that kind of situation is a little different with the clubs and the coaches. These things work together. You know, there is always someone that loses. And in this particular case, I think that Chelsea now is in a hurry to recover.”

Caicedo will fill one spot in Chelsea’s midfield when clear of the frustrating injuries that have been holding him back. Barco has offered enough energy across his outings so far to suggest that he can help to counter the departure of a fellow countryman.

Fernandez had, however, added goals to his game from the middle of the park - earning comparisons with Blues legend Frank Lampard along the way - and somebody will be required to pick up that baton if Alonso’s troops are to deliver on Premier League title-challenging potential.