Xabi Alonso has announced his Chelsea team for his first Premier League match as manager, a home fixture against Fulham on Friday evening, with a significant call made regarding Enzo Fernandez.
Chelsea face Fulham in their season opener on Saturday, with the Argentina international among the substitutes despite earlier speculation about his future.
Morgan Rogers and Reece James have been included in the XI, unlike Fernandez, who also featured for England at the World Cup until its final match. The South American does not start despite Moises Caicedo missing due to a slight injury problem.
Recent additions Maxence Lacroix and Rogers are set for their first appearances, but Marco Palestra is absent from the matchday squad despite travelling to Craven Cottage. Danny Welbeck, Geovany Quenda, Pep Chavarria and Valentin Barco provide options from the bench.
Fernandez has been heavily associated with leaving Stamford Bridge this summer, with sources indicating Manchester City continue to monitor the midfielder. Internal sources say the club are unconcerned about the 25-year-old’s position and have been throughout the transfer window.
Chelsea established an unofficial cutoff date for the Argentine for their Premier League rivals and any other potential buyers earlier this month. The west London club informed interested parties that £120million would be required before 5pm on August 14.
City, though, did not submit a formal bid. Sources maintain the £120million valuation is no longer active.
Should City attempt to sign Fernandez before next week’s transfer window closes, Chelsea would seek substantially more than their initial asking price. The club handed Benfica a British record £107million fee for the player three-and-a-half years ago.
Fernandez remains tied to the club until summer 2032, having signed an eight-and-a-half year contract upon arriving at Stamford Bridge.
After a turbulent summer involving transfer talk and World Cup duty with Argentina, the midfielder featured for barely 30 minutes during pre-season. Fernandez entered as a second-half substitute in the final warm-up match against Real Sociedad at Stamford Bridge, taking over from James.
When questioned about James and Palestra being unavailable before kick-off, Alonso told Sky Sports that during the week the pair had suffered a few setbacks. Regarding Caicedo and any other player, Alonso said the club were not willing to take too much risk with injuries. Neither player was prepared to feature in the match. Alonso added that the approach would be week-by-week, but for that particular evening neither was ready to play.