Enzo Maresca has said he does not expect Manchester City to complete any business on Friday, as the deadline to sign Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez approaches.
Manchester City have been strongly linked with a move for the Argentina international, though are running out of time to finalise a deal. Standard Sport understands Chelsea have set a hard deadline of 5pm BST on Friday (August 14) by which bids for the midfielder must be submitted. The deadline coincides with Chelsea's asking price of £120 million.
Maresca's pre-match comments
Speaking before Manchester City take on Arsenal in the Community Shield this weekend, Maresca was asked about a potential reunion with Fernandez and whether supporters could expect a new arrival before the end of the day.
“Not today, to be honest. I don't think we're going to do something today,” was the Italian's response in Friday morning's pre-match press conference. “In this moment, again, I have to give you the same answer since day one. It will always be the same. It's a player from another club, I don't think it's correct to talk about him.”
“At the same time, I don't think it's correct for other clubs to speak about our players. That's why I'm not going to say anything about players that aren't with us.”
Reijnders transfer expected
One deal that Maresca does expect to be finalised imminently is that of Tijjani Reijnders' switch to Saudi Pro League side Al Qadsiah, after an agreement for a £51.2 million transfer was struck on Thursday.
“Tij is not officially done, but we'll see in the next hour,” Maresca added. “I already spoke with him a few times in pre-season, then we will see if he is going to leave or if he is going to stay.”
“In the way he was playing in the pre-season games, I was quite happy with his performance overall. I know Tij from Italy, from Milan when he was there so I know him quite well. I know there he was playing in a different position, he likes to play a little more deep rather than high up the pitch, but again in the pre-season he was good, then we'll see what happens and we'll decide.”
