Hernan Crespo has raved about the star quality of Enzo Fernandez following his January switch to Chelsea.
Fernandez, who’s just 22, made his high-profile transfer last month from Benfica to the Blues.
The all-action midfielder has become a high-profile name off the back of winning the World Cup with Argentina, which must have made Chelsea’s mind up to splash the cash for him.
He impressed at the base of midfield in a deep-lying role during his Premier League debut last week against Fulham. There’s definitely more to his game than just breaking up play and providing a defensive screen, though.
Former Chelsea striker Crespo is clearly a fan of Fernandez, making the huge prediction that Chelsea’s No.5 could grow into one of the best midfielders in history.
It’s interesting to hear Crespo identify the South American star as someone that can both attack and defend. He even made a comparison to Chelsea legend Frank Lampard, who was one of the very best in the business as a genuine goalscoring midfielder.
“He [Fernandez] is [Claude] Makalele plus [Frank] Lampard,” Crespo told the Daily Mail. “If you need him in the Makalele position he can play very well.
“This guy can also smell the goal, good shot from outside the box so if you need him behind the striker, Lampard or [Michael] Essien, he can do it.
“As a manager, having a player that can play in lots of positions, it’s really important in football today. He can do everything as a midfielder. He can be one of the best midfielders in history.”
Chelsea desperately need to inject more goals into this current XI, so finding someone that can chip in regularly from midfield would be a real blessing.
Fernandez scored 12 goals in 53 games for River Plate during the early days of his career. He scored four goals and made seven assists for Benfica during the first half of the season, too.
Gary Neville recently explained he thought it was “strange” Chelsea spent so much on Fernandez, labelling him as a Rodri-type player that plays in the No.6 role. His game might not actually be as restrictive as that, so let’s see how he gets on in the months ahead.
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