Opinion: Enzo Fernández can bring Chelsea back to the top of the Premier League

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Credit: Jeffery Zhang

WSPN’s Jeffery Zhang reflects on Enzo Fernández’s potential at Chelsea.

Jeffery Zhang

The English soccer club Chelsea, recently signed Argentine soccer player, Enzo Fernández. Fernández, only 22-years-old, broke the English Premier League, EPL, record for the most expensive transfer deal of a whopping £106.8m. This eye-watering sum of money ranks among the most expensive transfers in all of soccer history, but can Enzo Fernández bring Chelsea out of its slump and back to the top of the Premier League?

Chelsea is currently number nine in the Premier League. You might think that being ranked ninth isn’t too bad, but considering the amount of money that Chelsea has spent on players and the fact that the club has won five Premier Leagues in the past, only being number nine is horrible.

There’s a great chance that this season is a fluke; however, it’s become apparent in Chelsea’s recent soccer games that the club is missing something. That’s where Enzo Fernández comes in.

Enzo Fernández is a 22-year-old Argentine soccer player. Before transferring to Chelsea, he played for a Portuguese soccer club, Benfica. There, he had mediocre statistics and few goals, but still managed to contribute to the team as a midfielder. At Benfica, Enzo Fernández was decent but nothing out of the ordinary. What made Chelsea sign Fernández, however, was not his performances at Benfica. The catalyst for Chelsea was the 2022 Fifa World Cup.

The World Cup brought out a series of absolute class performances from the Argentinian. Throughout the tournament, he completed 416 successful passes with an 88% completion rate. He also made 22 successful tackles with a success rate of 69% and scored the goal that guaranteed Argentina a win over Mexico.

In addition, Enzo Fernández would average 94 minutes a game, playing a key role in Argentina’s success in Qatar. Fernández would later receive the Best Young Player of the Tournament award. The Argentinian could not have played his role as a midfielder more perfectly. He averaged a high number of passes and tackles per game, and had the stamina to play the entirety of almost every match. That’s what Chelsea needs and that’s what they didn’t have.

Before Enzo Fernández, Chelsea had an Italian player named Jorge Luiz Frello Filho, or Jorginho for short. While Jorginho managed to distribute the ball well at Chelsea, he just wasn’t versatile enough to make Chelsea win their games. Jorginho averaged far less completed passes per appearance during the 2021-2022 season than Fernández, and had far less tackles. At the end of the day, Chelsea couldn’t win with Jorginho.

Look where they are in the Premier League standings. Of course, it’s not all Jorginho’s fault. Nevertheless, look where they are. They’re only ranked ninth in the Premier League, and they would have stayed there had Chelsea not changed something.

Even if Fernández plays worse than how he did in Qatar during the 2022 World Cup, his skill ceiling is unbelievably high for a youngster. He’s already demonstrated that he can complete passes and defend on soccer’s biggest stage, so I doubt that he would flop at Chelsea.

Enzo Fernández has the ability to change Chelsea’s fate. In fact, who knows, Enzo Fernández could get even better at Chelsea. Maybe he’ll turn out to be the greatest of all time in 10 years, or have his name written down in the soccer Hall of Fame, but he doesn’t need that to help Chelsea. Enzo Fernández already has the ability to bring Chelsea back to the top of the Premier League.