Why Chelsea Spending €127m On Enzo Fernandez Is Stupid!

Welcome back ladies and gentlemen to The Talking Point, a slightly different Talking Point because it's Christmas, it's only me, Sam and George Eos that are in today for Football Daily and so I hope you guys have had a good time because the rest of the guys are having a good time, they're doing a well-deserved break. But we're here today to bring the people at home football content, we don't stop for you guys. Anyway, big news happening out there Sam, The Talking Point, or today's Talking Point for this video, Chelsea, Enzo Fernandes, hundreds of millions of pounds being spent. I want to discuss a few different things about the player himself, do we like the transfer and also the money being spent because yes, it was broken originally that two teams had actually approached Benfica about Enzo Fernandes and were willing to look at his release clause of around 127 million euros. And then Duncan Castles who is a very, very strong journalist when it comes to George Mendes clients, and obviously Enzo Fernandes is a George Mendes client, said that Chelsea were one of these teams. Now me and you are both, for our sins, Chelsea fans. Now I want to talk about what we think of the deal because overall, Chelsea need players, Chelsea are targeting young players, they need a midfielder, more than one to be honest. Overall, ignoring the fee, the move is good, right? Yeah, ignoring the fee, the move is incredible. If you look back at the World Cup, obviously you don't want to get hung up on that tournament bias, literally the last competition that we've seen being played and also Argentina won it. He was really important for that side that won it as well. He's one of those players that like, unless you're watching him directly or he's involved in a goal, you don't really notice him as much but he is incredible. He's all over the place, he's got a serious engine, he gets involved defensively. I think one of the, you know that moment against France where Mbappé was literally doing a madness and it looked like he was just going to win it for France. I think he's the one that got that final touch in the box and then Dybala cleared it. He also got a really good assist in the game before that. He scored an incredible goal as well. And then for club as well, Benfica, I think he was one of the best performers for them in the Champions League as well. They topped their group. The only thing is, I know that Benfica at this point, and obviously we're going to have to talk about the fee in general, but I know that they know he's going to be hot property. They've had hot property in the past where they know that they're just going to stick by their guns and say if he's got contracts until 2027, we don't need to let him go. And I think that is one of the things that Chelsea and probably other clubs are looking at. We know how they are in the market, they're going to be stubborn so we're going to go in for what they want and then try and get them out. And Benfica don't need the money. Benfica don't need the money. Continuously they've sold high. Jal Pheonix is one of the most recent cases where they've made a lot of money on him. And then obviously when Fabrizio Romano is coming out and saying things like Enzo Fernandes will only leave if a club will trigger his release clause. Apparently his agent is coming to Europe to talk with clubs and the Premier League is his most likely destination. About a move in January, then it seems as if something like this might be happening. I think from a Benfica point of view they don't actually want to let him go. Obviously they're doing very, very well at the moment in Ligue 1 Noche. They have the possibility of winning their first title since 2019, which is priceless. They also have the idea that maybe if they don't sell him now, they could still sell him for a huge fee as well in the summer. Maybe not the hundreds of millions, but still 80 million plus, which is a huge fee on someone they only spent 10 million euros on in the summer. And this is where things I find are quite difficult because 120 plus million pounds or million euros, depending on which fee exactly, but it's going to be over 100 million in either currency. It's a lot of money to spend on someone who hasn't necessarily played a lot, who hasn't necessarily experienced or hasn't had a full season. For instance, playing in Europe. Yes, he's had a World Cup, which he was fantastic in, but it's a lot of money. It's a lot of money and I'm not being harsh on Fernandes here when I say this, but I think there are other players out there that kind of do what he does. Yes, he does it very well, but I think there are other players that you can get for cheaper and especially when Chelsea are kind of going, or at least with the way their future is, it's looking like they're going to spend a lot of money at the moment on youngsters, but not the amount of money of 100 plus, more like say the 30, 40, 50 million on these guys that are 21, 22 years old or even younger. So then go out there and go, okay, we're not going to spend this amount of money. We're not going to spend that amount of money. We're going to go over 100 million pounds on someone that's 21 years old, not necessarily the most experienced. Yes, he's won a World Cup, but then question about maybe spending that amount of money on someone like Jude Bellingham or like, it's either or, right? You can't get Fernandes and then get Declan Rice or Bellingham. It's got to be one of the three. And personally, Fernandes is probably at the bottom of that list for me. I think it's more, and I read something about this earlier about the structure of the deal financially and I think the way Chelsea want to do it is similar to how they've done the Nkunku deal. I think you're not going to pay the full sum straight away, which is obviously fair. Obviously it looks like a lot of money. It's going to end up being a lot of money, but I think when you look at the competition to get the likes of Jude Bellingham, to get Declan Rice as well, they're linked with top clubs, linked with Real Madrid, Manchester United, with Liverpool as well. So I think that there's a lot of competition in for those players. I think Enzo is one of those ones where he had a really good World Cup and there's always that one player that has an amazing World Cup. We saw James Rodriguez after his World Cup go to Real Madrid. We've seen it in other competitions. I think his partner in McAllister, who's at Brighton at the moment, is probably going to look to get a move, probably not in January, but in the summer as well. I think it would be a force to get him at the moment, like in January, to pay that much money. I don't know if that's ever been done, that amount of money in January. But I wouldn't be close to the deal in the summer if you're not able to get the likes of Declan Rice, because Declan Rice is coming to the end of his contract, will be cheaper. Bellinum, I think he's going to end up playing in Spain, so I think that's not going to be on the cards. So you think it's an easy deal to get over the line? Yeah, yeah. It's an easy deal to get over the line. My bigger issue is I don't mind Chelsea bringing in a youngster and bringing in someone here who has a huge future, because it looks it. After the World Cup and what he did, it does look like he has a huge future. And there are positive signs there. Again, I want to stress, I'm not saying he's a bad player at all. He really is. Nah, he's quality, man. But I just think it's a lot of money to commit on someone who may be in a year's time and we go, actually, isn't that amazing? Or he had a good month, because that is all the World Cup is. It's one month with seven games. But that's what I'm saying. I can't talk from a first-hand view of watching him week in, week out. I've seen him in the Champions League, heard a few murmurings. You always see either compilations or see stat lines of certain players, and you Google them or YouTube them, you see what they're capable of doing. I think that the World Cup is obviously a stage that everyone witnesses, and international football is very different. We've seen players that can do amazing for their nation, but at club level, it's a bit different. For his club, he's actually on that level. I don't know if we can expect him to be that player consistently week in, week out in the hardest league in the world, but at the same time, I can understand a team taking a punt at him. I wouldn't necessarily be opposed to it because of what I saw. It's a lot of money. It's a big punt, and you need to score. But at the same time, right now, the way the market is, you can't necessarily... There's no signings that is guaranteed. I'm sure we've done a video before talking about every signing that's been over 100 million, and there's only been two or three that have been all right, arguing their points. At this point, what can you say? If you see a player, he's a hot prospect, he can become something that you hope he'll be. He rises to the big occasions, and the biggest occasion that football has to offer, then I can understand it. Okay. Let me word this a little bit differently then. Is there a slight worry possibly, because this is a worry that I'm maybe starting to have, that a lot of money is being spent at Chelsea. With the new owners, and from what we understand, that can't just continue now for years and years. It kind of feels like, okay, they've had their big summer, which just went, they spent a lot of money. Looks like they're going to have a big January at the moment, and then possibly another big summer with Kunku coming in. You assume that won't be the only one as well, with rumours obviously, if the Fernandes one doesn't work out, the Reiss possibility, the Bellingham possibility. There were talks of Gavardia as well, but they've now gone for Bennett and Badia Scheel. A lot of money is being spent, and I don't know about you, but I don't feel like that's going to continue. At what point then do you think, it seems as if they're going, okay, we're going to buy these youngsters now, and for the hope that in two years, we'll be then challenging for the title with these guys who are 23, 24, and pushing on to really become world-class players. At what point does this stop? Because Chelsea can't keep spending this money, at what point do they have to start selling their stars? I think they're going to have to start selling quite soon, to be fair, because it's just going to get clustered. Even if you think about the player that Enzo is, and us being linked with him, we've literally just bought Chukwemeke with the idea of him becoming the future of Chelsea. And Kassadar is another youngster on the bench. Kassadar as well, yeah, exactly. But it's one of those things where you look at the summer that's just gone, when you look at the age profiles, they were a bit older, above 27 years old, so you can think, okay, you bought in experience, and then this next window, a few of the players were quite young, but every player that you've looked at since the structure has been a bit clearer has been quite young. So you can say that they're trying to build for the future with having some players that have experience. I'm thinking that the players that are coming to the end of their contracts, a lot of them might not see another contract at Chelsea, because I'm thinking, it was in that place before, when you saw the Williams leaving because they weren't able to get the length of contract that they wanted. Now I think it's going to be quite similar. We might see a few fan favourites leaving, which is obviously, it's never the best thing to see. But at the same time, you've got to look forward and you've got to move forward. And I think that that's what the club are doing. I don't expect them to spend hundreds and hundreds on singular players consistently. But I do always expect us to be active in the market if there's a player that fits a position or profile that we need. For example, Rhys James has just been injured now. We're going to have to look at back up right backs because Aspie, however good he's been in the past, he's not that same player, which everyone is understanding. So it's like you have to actually be prepared for these situations, especially when you see clubs around being able to get all these players. They're allowed to, you know, like they've got three or four wingers or four or five central midfielders. We're going to need that depth to Interesting. I don't know. I just feel I feel like a lot. It's a lot of money spent on someone in January who we haven't seen the full potential. But to be honest, I think in general, spending that amount of money on a midfielder is a big risk. Really, I think the way you see your money come back is on guys that are forwards that play in that position. Because when you just naturally, the guys that score you goals are the ones that take you further in competitions that can retrieve your money back and have probably a bit of a better selling value. And the thing is, Enzo Fernandes isn't necessarily a huge goal scorer. I know he has scored a few goals and a few decent goals, actually, to be honest. Chelsea could do with a midfielder that can at least have a shot or just one that can shoot from outside the box, to be quite honest, when Georginio Kovacic aren't doing so. And so, yeah, I think it's a lot of money. If I was making the decision, which I'm very much not, I probably wouldn't be spending that amount. I just don't see it happening. I think January is too soon. I think there's going to be a lot of the conversation around all of these players that did well at the World Cup, whether they're going to move in January. But like you said, they're in a good position to win the league. They're doing well in the Champions League as well. I'm sure he wants to be a part of that history above what he's done with Argentina. Because if he does leave at the end of that tournament, going far in the Champions League, winning the league, then that's all good. So would you spend 127 million euros on Enzo Fernandes in January right now? No. You wouldn't? I would not do that. That is a lot of money. If it happened, then I could argue it making sense to a certain extent. But that amount of money, like I said, we've seen it so many times. Good transfer, high price. High price. But at the same time, when you see just the price, you're never hellbent on the structure. Everyone just sees the price and is like, oh, they're spending so much money. But the structure could make sense. And when we see the breakdown, it's like, oh, it's not that bad. But at the end of the day, no one cares about that. Yeah, indeed. It's always the headlines. I really want to know what you guys at home, though, think about this deal. Is it a good deal? I think we're kind of all in agreement that the player moving to the club makes sense. That is completely understandable. But the fee is a lot of money. Do you think Chelsea should be spending that amount on one player? Do you think they should be spreading it across? Do you think they should be spending that more on someone like Jude Bellingham, who we've seen a lot more of and who could possibly fit into that system a little bit more smoothly? Let me know in the comments below. I'm really actually quite confused. I'd love to know what you think down there. If you've enjoyed the video, then click on screen right now for some more football daily content. And as always, guys, don't forget to like and subscribe.