Why Chelsea's lack of Fernandez replacement could have significant impact

The Blues were always going to look a little different from how they ended the season, given the appointment of Xabi Alonso, though their business this summer may even have surpassed the crazy summers of the recent past in West London.

20 players out, 11 in

Not only did the club agree to 10 loan deals for players to leave the club, but owners Clearlake Capital authorised the sale of 10 more players, including the record departure of Enzo Fernandez on deadline day to Man City.

With 11 players incoming, including Morgan Rogers and Emi Martinez from Aston Villa amongst others, the new-look Blues are effectively starting all over again under Alonso. Just as they did under Graham Potter, Mauricio Pochettino, Enzo Maresca and Liam Rosenior.

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For whatever reason, none of the four full-time managers, nor caretakers Frank Lampard and Calum McFarlane, were able to get the best out of the squad, though the sheer turnover of playing staff in the years since the Clearlake takeover surely has to be a major contributory factor.

Losing Fernandez wasn't really a surprise as things haven't been the same since the Argentinian went public on a desire to move to Madrid, even if ultimately that isn't the destination where he's ended up.

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Chelsea's anger at Monaco

Chelsea have made a tidy profit, but thanks to Monaco's dithering, they've not managed to replace their vice-captain.

That's because the Ligue 1 outfit pulled the plug on a deal at the 11th hour which would've seen Lamine Camara move to Stamford Bridge.

The Senegalese midfielder had even completed a medical in France ahead of the proposed switch, and what's worse is that after Monaco decided to keep him because they'd rather sell Folarin Balogun, the striker's move to Everton also fell through.

Chelsea have made it known how livid they are with Monaco's 'unprofessionalism,' but they're now effectively left with Rogers, Cole Palmer and Kendry Paez as their attacking midfielders.

Given how important Fernandez has been for the club in terms of his output, the pressure on Rogers, particularly, will be immense.

For example, only Joao Pedro scored more than Enzo's 16 goals in 2025/26, and had the Argentine scored on the five occasions that he hit the woodwork, he'd be within two of Chelsea's main striker's total for last season.

A shot accuracy of 56.1 per cent was actually better than the centre-forward's, whilst his 115 total shots were more than any other Chelsea player in 25/26.

Stunning figures

Forty-six shots on target and a 48 per cent conversion rate of his big chances were also best-in-class at Stamford Bridge.

If that weren't enough to have the Blues concerned, Enzo provided the joint-most assists (10 with Pedro Neto), created the most chances (108), made the second-most passes (3,126) with an 85.76 per cent completion rate, contested the second-most one-on-ones (510), had the second-most ball recoveries (219) and attempted the fifth-most tackles (84).

As an all-rounder, there was simply nobody at Chelsea that came close to the 25-year-old, who'll now spend the peak years of his playing career in the blue half of Manchester.

Whilst a deal makes sense from a financial perspective, and has allowed the club to bring in some expensive reinforcements, there's still a constant revolving door at Stamford Bridge in terms of player acquisitions and exits, and that isn't going to help Alonso get the stability that the club has needed for a few years now.

Will the new-look Chelsea have the same old traits? 

A team that wants to win titles has to have a solid base from which to build, and if all that the Chelsea hierarchy intends to do is 'buy, buy, sell, sell' throughout their ownership, then the club is going to suffer the consequences in both the short and longer term.

The next two fixtures - Arsenal away in the Premier League and Leeds at home in the EFL Cup - are likely to hint at just how much of a miss Enzo will be, with Rogers almost certainly being asked to step into that role and drive the team forward at every opportunity.

Supporters will soon know whether the new-look Chelsea has inherited any of the old failings, or if the club's summer transfer business has actually been a financial and managerial masterstroke.

Whatever happens, we won't be able to take our eyes off them.