EPL: Chelsea’s Maresca says no player indispensable after dropping Fernandez

Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has stated that no player is irreplaceable after axing club-record signing Enzo Fernandez from his Premier League starting line-up.

The Argentine World Cup winner has been demoted to Maresca’s second string for cup competitions and has not started either of the past two top-flight games.

Fernandez joined Chelsea for £107 million ($138 million) from Benfica in January 2023, but Maresca currently prefers the less experienced Romeo Lavia as a midfield partner for Moises Caicedo.

“I still trust him (Fernandez),” Maresca said on Friday. “There’s no reason in the world for me to lose confidence in him.

“The reason he isn’t playing in the Premier League is that, at this moment, I am making different decisions, but my confidence in Enzo is 100 percent.”

Fernandez has captained Chelsea this season in the absence of Reece James, but the emergence of Lavia has resulted in a fall down the pecking order, with the manager citing a lack of physicality.

“I like to say there are players that are fantastic, but for me, we don’t have indispensable players,” said Maresca.

“If Cole (Palmer) is not playing for any reason, we play Joao (Felix). If Nico (Nicolas Jackson) is not playing, we play Christo (Christopher Nkunku). There is no one that we cannot change.

“The reason we change players is that we believe all of them are good. Some of them are better than the rest, but that doesn’t mean they are always the ones that will play.”

Reports in Spain have suggested Real Madrid could move for Fernandez in a cash-plus-player deal.

However, Maresca, whose side face Manchester United on Sunday, said Lavia and Caicedo had not locked down the midfield.

“It’s a matter of balance,” he added. “Romeo and Moises give us physicality and strength in the middle.

“When we play with Enzo, it has to be him and one between Moises and Romeo, and when Enzo moves, we struggle a bit in the middle in terms of physicality. It’s something Moises and Romeo provide us.”