City are working to finalise a deal for Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez, with sources close to the negotiations expecting an agreement to be reached this week.
Talks between the two clubs have picked up pace after weeks of stop-start negotiations. Chelsea had set — and seen pass — a deadline demanding their £120m valuation be met, but the two clubs kept talking anyway, and City are now believed to be ready to pay it, having previously held the line at the £116m they paid for Elliot Anderson.
The proposed £102.5m package reported elsewhere in recent days appears to have been superseded by the fuller £120m figure now being discussed.
The move carries an obvious subplot: Fernandez would be reuniting with Enzo Maresca, the manager who oversaw him at Stamford Bridge before crossing to the Etihad this summer.
Maresca is said to have pushed hard internally for the deal, and Fernandez’s camp has made his willingness to move well known.
City’s finances have shifted, too. The sale of Nico Gonzalez to Newcastle is progressing and would free up further funds, adding to the money already banked from Rodri’s departure and Tijjani Reijnders’ exit — both factored into City’s rebuild of a midfield that’s already added Ayyoub Bouaddi from Lille this month.
Nothing is signed. Talks are moving, not concluded, and Chelsea have shown before in this saga that positions can harden again.
But with the window closing on 1 September, this is the closest the two clubs have been to an agreement all summer — keep an eye on the live Man City transfer tracker for developments.
