Enzo Fernandez was left out of the Chelsea squad for the Carabao Cup tie against Luton Town as he continues to be linked with a move to Manchester City. Fernandez is a priority target for Enzo Maresca to bolster City's midfield after a series of high-profile exits.
Fernandez was a notable absentee from Xabi Alonso's squad to face the Hatters, even though he said on Wednesday that he expected the midfielder to be involved. "We assessed situations, individual and collective and we have decided he is not in the squad for today," Alonso told Sky Sports before Thursday night's game.
Alonso's stance on Fernandez
Asked whether he would like to keep Fernandez before the Luton match, Alonso added: "We want to have the best team possible. We know his qualities. He has shown it and we have to wait, but we will think about tomorrow and let's see how things develop."
The Spanish boss had said on Wednesday: "Yes, so we expect that he's involved. He has trained, he's training really well, he's a good professional and he will be involved."
City's midfield rebuild
City have seen Rodri and Bernardo Silva depart and their midfield rebuild is not yet done despite spending around £200m on signing Elliot Anderson and Ayyoub Bouaddi.
Chelsea are aware of City's interest and set an unofficial deadline for the deal to be completed earlier this summer at a minimum fee of £120m only for that date to pass. However, reports in Argentina from TYC Sports now claim that City will be making a move, and are confident of agreeing a six-year deal with an option for a further year.
Maresca's captain comments
Speaking on Thursday, Maresca revealed he hopes to add 'a captain' to his City squad before the end of the transfer window. "We have experienced players," he said. "For sure, we have leaders. Now we need to wait four or five more days when the transfer window closes if we can add one or two more captains to Ruben [Dias] and Erling [Haaland], who at the moment are the two captains.
"It's the transfer window. Anything can happen. We'll see. It's four or five more days to go." Before Maresca added: "It's not all about experience, for me age does not open or close doors. It depends how good they are. In my former club we had the youngest squad in the history of the Premier League. In this moment we are quite young in terms of squad but we also have players with the right experience."
