Enzo Maresca, the Manchester City manager, is pushing to sign Chelsea star Enzo Fernandez, after agreeing to Rodri's departure to Barcelona.
According to the newspaper "AS", Enzo remains on Manchester City's list of targets this summer, at the personal request of Maresca, despite the English side being linked with a move for Morocco's Ayoub Bouaddi, the Lille star.
Chelsea's deadline for negotiations over the sale of their player has already passed. Even so, talks over the deal will resume in the coming days.
City had initially prioritised the sales of Rodri, now a Barcelona player, and Tijjani Reijnders, who moved to Saudi Arabia, before moving strongly in the transfer market.
Over the past week, the English club made an initial verbal offer worth 120 million euros, the equivalent of 115 million pounds sterling. That was the same amount Chelsea paid Benfica around four seasons ago to sign the player. The London club's officials ignored it.
Publicly, Chelsea's position was clear: "Enzo is not for sale".
Behind closed doors, though, the idea of selling him was already on the table. The club's management had studied the possibility of his departure since the end of last season.
City see in Enzo the ideal replacement for Rodri in Maresca's new project.
Maresca knows the Argentine well, having worked with him for several seasons at Stamford Bridge. He was the coach who helped develop him, to the point of unlocking one of his most prominent strengths: a real knack for scoring goals.
Contact between the two parties has been constant since the end of last season. With the Argentine now up for sale, Maresca made sure to tell him the doors of the Etihad Stadium are open.
Speaking after the loss in the Community Shield final, Maresca said: "We knew before the match the things we have to do. We know what we must do. We will be busy during these days."
Chelsea want the biggest possible financial return from the Argentine, whose value rose after his strong showing at the World Cup.
They have set the price of parting with Enzo at around 140 million euros, or 120 million pounds sterling. City do not want to pay that, at least if they can avoid it.
The Etihad club have enough liquidity to enter strongly into the deal, especially if they also complete the transfer of Savinho, with developments expected this week. Chelsea, meanwhile, do not want to lose out financially from the operation.
As for Xabi Alonso, Enzo is one of the players he wants to build his project around, though he will not close the door on a sale should other reinforcements arrive.