“He’s a legend”- Chelsea’s Enzo Fernandez opens up on how Lionel Messi has inspired him

Enzo Fernandez on being happy at Chelsea and getting inspired by Lionel Messi

As quoted by Evening Standard, Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez revealed his happiness at being at the club and how he gets inspired by Lionel Messi to push for more trophies.

Chelsea signed Fernandez on the deadline day of the January transfer window for a British record fee of £106.8m. Since making his debut for the Blues, he is yet to win a game but has shown why the club spent big money on him.

The 2022 World Cup winner has effectively replaced Jorginho in the team, who was sold to Arsenal on the same day as Fernandez arrived at Chelsea.

Here’s what the former Benfica midfielder said about being at Stamford Bridge and his inspiration Lionel Messi (h/t Evening Standard):

“I’ve always longed to play in the Premier League. Chelsea has allowed me to play here, and I feel grateful for their trust. I love everything about the club, I’m so happy with my teammates and technical staff. Honestly, ever since I landed here I felt at home. I’ll always try to give it my all along with my team-mates to achieve the greatest things for Chelsea.

“I remember we went through tough times with the squad, and the press criticised Leo [Messi] so harshly. I tried to explain how I feel about him. I asked him to stay, as he said he wouldn’t play for the team anymore. I defended him to stay with us, playing for the squad. I was pretty young back then!

“He means a lot to everyone in the world. He’s a legend for Argentina. He’s a loved person, an idol for all Argentinians, for our children. As a person, I have no complaints about him. He’s always given me so much love. He’s always respected me and was a great team-mate in all senses. I’m very thankful for having played with him.”

Even though the team haven’t made a great start to life with Fernandez in midfield, we can see that the 22-year-old will be a superstar at Chelsea in years to come. He has all the quality to drive our midfield forward.

It is about recruiting well and building an attack that can score goals. Graham Potter’s men have scored six goals in 11 games since the World Cup. However good the likes of Fernandez are in midfield, if no one puts the ball in the back of the net, whose fault is it?

We can hope that Fernandez gets a regular partner in midfield next season onward, along with a number nine who can score 20+ goals a season. Once that happens, we can see the very best from the Argentine, which is only going to help the team.

He is also very highly rated back in his homeland, where he would definitely be a hero after helping his team win the 2022 FIFA World Cup. Lionel Messi also showered the former Benfica man with praise after La Albiceleste‘s important win against Mexico in the group stages, which just goes to show Fernandez’s hype.

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• Chelsea target Victor Osimhen opens the door for a possible summer exit from Napoli
• Chelsea set to battle Tottenham for Brighton striker Evan Ferguson

For now, let’s get through this campaign with minimum damage and hope to get something out of it. These four months will be a good learning curve for Fernandez before he spends a full pre-season with the squad and gets even better than before.