Maresca reveals secret for Fernandez's Chelsea success

Jacque Talbot

Updated: 24 Nov 2024 08:17 GMT
3 min read

Enzo Maresca has revealed the reason why Enzo Fernandez is finally starting to find his feet at Chelsea.

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The Argentina international has had a dour season for the most part, with criticism aimed at him for his inability to function seamlessly in a single role. Meanwhile, the then-club record is no escaping from the fact that he has failed to live up to the hefty €121 million the Blues paid to Benfica for him last year.

Fernandez has scored just eight goals and provided 11 assists in 78 games he's played for Chelsea since his arrival in the January window of 2023. But in the Blues' 2-1 win over Leicester City on Saturday, Maresca was impressed with his display.

Fernandez netted Chelsea's second of the game after Nicholas Jackson opened the scoring. The Foxes found a consolation deep into injury time via a Jordon Ayew penalty.

Maresca said of Fernandez after the match: “Today I thought was the right game to use Enzo, even if he was back from international duty (late). I think he did very well.

Current ETV

Enzo Fernández

M, DM (C)

Chelsea

Enzo Fernández

M, DM (C)

Chelsea

ETV Range

€40.7M - €67.9M

“I’m trying to convince Enzo, in the same way as I did last year with (Wilfred) Ndidi and Kiernan (Dewsbury-Hall), that attacking midfielders need to arrive in the box. The reason why he scored today was because he was inside the box — if he was outside of the box, he wouldn’t have scored the goal. We are happy in the way Enzo is doing.”

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Jackson shines again

Indeed, Jackson continued his fine form this season at the King Power Stadium, scoring his seventh goal of the Premier League campaign.

STATS

Nicolas Jackson

F (C)

Chelsea

Nicolas Jackson

F (C)

Chelsea

13

Games
7

Goals
3

Assists

Maresca was full of praise for the striker in his post-match press conference. “For me, Nico is doing very well. He is working hard on and off the ball, he is making an effort to understand the way we play.”

“We are very happy with Nico, especially with the way he is off the ball, the way he is pressing. We are sure he's going to get better.”