Enzo Fernández to Manchester City: Verbal Terms Reported, But No Bid Lodged With Two Days Left

Manchester City's interest in Enzo Fernández is still a rumour with two days of the transfer window left, and the reporting on it points two ways at once. Fabrizio Romano wrote on 29 August that the Chelsea midfielder 'has a verbal agreement with Manchester City on personal terms', and in the same breath that City 'have not sent official bid yet'. Nothing has been agreed between the two clubs, and no medical has been reported.

The context is a City midfield rebuild that is not finished. They sold Rodri to Barcelona and Nico González to Newcastle United this summer, and the manager now chasing Fernández is Enzo Maresca, who left Stamford Bridge in late June to succeed Pep Guardiola at the Etihad, with City paying compensation to do it.

Verbal agreement, no bid: the gap that is the whole story

Romano's 29 August wording is worth reading in full, because it contains both halves of the story at once: 'Enzo Fernández has a verbal agreement with Manchester City on personal terms. Deal depends on club to club decision as MCFC have not sent official bid yet but contacts will take place soon; decision on price up to Chelsea.' Four days earlier the same reporter had City 'set to send formal bid before the end of the window', and described the situation as 'absolutely open'.

Sky Sports, reporting on 28 August, pushed harder in the other direction. No club-to-club talks had taken place at all, according to Sky, and Chelsea would only sell to City for the right price and only if they could improve the squad first. Sky had already reported on 14 August that Chelsea set City a 5pm Friday deadline to bid £120m, that City did not bid, and that the verbal terms offered to Fernández's representatives back in May were 'off the table'.

There is a more dramatic version in circulation. TyC Sports in Argentina reported on 27 August that an agreement had been struck at €140m, on a contract to 2032 with an option year. That claim is uncorroborated, and it is directly contradicted by both Sky, who said no club-to-club talks had happened, and Romano, who said no official bid had been sent. It is set out here because it is out there, not because it stands up.

Why neither club can move first

The chain is easy to describe and very hard to complete inside two days. City want Fernández because Rodri has gone and the midfielders they have bought do not fill that particular hole. Elliot Anderson, signed from Nottingham Forest for £116m, is earmarked for the No.6 role, and Ayyoub Bouaddi, signed from Lille for £81.4m plus £4.2m, is explicitly not seen as the Rodri replacement. City are reported to be weighing Bournemouth's Alex Scott and Roma's Manu Koné as well.

Chelsea, per Sky, will not sell until they have a replacement of their own. Their named targets are Alex Scott of Bournemouth, the same player City are considering, and Adam Wharton of Crystal Palace. Sky reported on 28 August that both clubs regard their man as unsellable. So City cannot sign Fernández until Chelsea replace him, Chelsea cannot replace him because the players they want are reportedly not for sale, and City have not lodged a bid in any case. That is the deadlock, and none of the three links has broken.

What has moved is the circumstantial evidence. Fernández has been left out of two consecutive Chelsea squads: the Carabao Cup win over Luton on Thursday 27 August, and Sunday's 4-3 win over Brighton at Stamford Bridge, which was Xabi Alonso's second win from two in the league. talkSPORT's Alex Crook posted 'Enzo Fernandez to #MCFC' with an hourglass emoji after the Luton omission. Football365's rumour ranking on 30 August placed the move 14th of 20, with the note: 'It could go to the wire, but we reckon this gets done.' His agent, Javier Pastore, has been in daily contact with City, according to Football365 on 25 August.

Alonso has been careful without being dismissive. Asked after the Brighton game whether Fernández had played his last match for Chelsea, he said only: 'We'll see.' Earlier in the week he had been firmer: 'Enzo is a good professional. He's training well and I have nothing to say about this.'

We have to be aware (until) Tuesday evening what is going to develop. We're not sure. We are preparing for all scenarios.— Xabi Alonso, Chelsea head coach, after the 4-3 win over Brighton, via PA

Key facts

Key numbers

• 25 - his age; he was born on 17 January 2001
• £106.8m - what Chelsea paid Benfica in January 2023, a British transfer record at the time
• 36 apps, 10 goals, 4 assists - his 2025-26 Premier League season, his best league return and the squad's second-top scorer
• 54 apps, 15 goals - his 2025-26 across all competitions
• 49 caps, 8 goals - his Argentina record
• 2 - consecutive Chelsea squads he has been left out of
• 14th of 20 - where Football365 ranked this rumour on 30 August
• 23:00 BST, Tuesday 1 September - when the window shuts

What happens next

Everything runs to Tuesday at 23:00 BST, when the window closes across the Premier League, the EFL, LaLiga, Serie A, the Bundesliga and Ligue 1. For this to happen, City have to bid, Chelsea have to accept, and Chelsea have to find a replacement, in a market where the two midfielders they are reported to want are not available at any price. Romano said on 25 August that a formal bid was coming before the window shut. As of 29 August it had not arrived.

It is worth being clear about what Chelsea would be selling. Fernández made 36 Premier League appearances last season and returned 10 goals and four assists, his best league season and enough to make him the squad's second-top scorer. He won the Conference League in 2024-25 and the Club World Cup in 2025, and he has a World Cup winner's medal from 2022, when he was also named the tournament's best young player. Chelsea finished 10th last season and have no European football this season. Alonso, appointed on a four-year contract, is rebuilding with a squad that has already broken the British transfer record again this summer, on Morgan Rogers at £117m. Selling Fernández with 48 hours left and no replacement lined up would be a strange way to go about it.

Deadline day and Chelsea's next fixture: kick-off time and where to watch

The window shuts on Tuesday 1 September at 23:00 BST. That is 22:00 UTC, 18:00 ET and 15:00 PT, and midnight as Wednesday begins in Spain, Italy, Germany and France, where the deadline has been harmonised to the same moment. Chelsea's next fixture, and its kick-off time in each of those zones, is listed on the OneLightScore match page with the day and date attached as soon as the round is confirmed. Where to watch it, and how to watch it, varies by country: the TV channels holding Premier League rights in the United Kingdom, the United States and elsewhere are all different, and so are the live stream options. Full country-by-country TV channel and live stream listings for this fixture, plus live scores and the running table, are on OneLightScore.

Deadline day itself runs into Tuesday night, and our live scores, full TV listings and broadcast listings all sit in the same place. You can follow live football on TV, watch live online and track the Premier League table without leaving OneLightScore.