Enzo Fernandez wanted Chelsea exit, but Javier Pastore made it messy with Real Madrid before Manchester City move

Enzo Fernandez was a key player at Chelsea; however, a few months into the 2025/26 season, the midfielder’s role at the club changed drastically.

Since taking over the club in 2022, BlueCo have been criticised on several occasions, especially by the Blues fans. The exit of Enzo Fernandez in the summer of 2026 was no different, though the ‘vibes’ around the club and dressing room had changed after Xabi Alonso’s appointment and a shift in transfer strategy.

However, the exit of Enzo Fernandez was seen as a negative by several fans, as he was sold to Manchester City – a direct rival in the Premier League and the Blues’ failure to reject the advances after their deadline was laughed away by the Cityzens.

The Argentine star’s side claims the club’s hierarchy was ‘immature’ in their dealings, while the Blues believe his agent sold the midfielder an impossible dream. So, what actually happened behind the scenes that led to the Premier League record transfer? The Sportszine dug deep and found out some interesting details.

Why Enzo Fernandez joined Javier Pastore’s agency

Enzo Fernandez wanted a new deal at Chelsea soon after the FIFA Club World Cup win in the United States, but his then-agency, DE 9 Fútbol, was informed by the club that they would need to wait, as the club were not planning to renew any deal before Enzo Maresca’s contract was done after the transfer window. The hierarchy, who had extended their deals until 2031, believed that they needed to go step by step and not rush into any deal.

However, their pushback turned into a bitter situation between Fernandez and DE 9 Fútbol, and the Argentine opted to leave them. Javier Pastore had already held informal talks with him and several other Argentine players, including Julian Alvarez, as he was in the final stretch of setting up his agency.

Bad time to start

Javier Pastore’s first task after onboarding Fernandez was to restart the renewal talks, but the timing could not have been worse. He was unaware of the situation between Maresca and the Chelsea hierarchy and was asked to wait until the issue was sorted.

The silence from the hierarchy and the sudden exit of Maresca from Chelsea left a lot of unanswered questions for Fernandez. He began to question where the club was headed as the Italian resigned without saying a word to any of the players.

Sources close to the Argentine told The Sportzine that he held private conversations with Maresca and had decided to leave the club by the end of January. The midfielder urged his new agent to start looking for a move, and Pastore quickly contacted his former side, PSG.

The Ligue 1 side were interested in signing the Argentine, as they looked to add a midfielder amid reported interest in Joao Neves and Vitinha from Real Madrid, while Barcelona and Atletico Madrid kept tabs on Fabian Ruiz.

Fernandez was open to the switch to Paris, but sources suggest that he wanted a move to Spain after talks with Marc Cucurella made him ‘fall in love’ with the country more. The left-back had already agreed with Chelsea to leave at the end of the season after initially asking for the move in the summer of 2025, before Maresca and the club hierarchy convinced him to stay for another season.

Meanwhile, Chelsea opened contract talks in early 2026, but were stunned by the agent’s demands. Pastore wanted a significant increase that would have made the 25-year-old the club’s highest earner, disrupting the wage structure BlueCo brought in.

Repeated failure behind the scenes

Javier Pastore was not having the best time behind the scenes as he scrambled to hold talks with Real Madrid. Sources close to the agent suggest he only managed to get in touch with Álvaro Abeloa and could not secure a meeting with any decision-makers at the club.

He and Fernandez tried going public with his interest to try and get someone from the club to contact them. However, that too led to no openings and the agent was left with very little to work with in April.

Things changed in May after Enrique Riquelme announced he would run against Florentino Pérez for the Real Madrid presidency. Pastore quickly got his foot in the door and agreed with the new candidate to bring Enzo Fernandez to Real Madrid in the summer.

The new agent informed the Chelsea midfielder of the agreement, and the Argentine star mentally checked out of the Stamford Bridge side as he prepareed to move to his dream city, which h repeatedly mentioned in March and April. Just as Pastore started to convince Enzo that everything was sorted, Riquelme ddi not name the Chelsea star among the top players he would sign if elected, instead naming Erling Haaland and Rodri.

Things got worse for Pastore as Riquelme lost the election and the club’s only significant contact, Arbeloa, is set to be sacked at the end of the season. Real Madrid sources told The Sportzine that the agent tried to hold new talks with Los Blancos during the FIFA World Cup because he wanted to secure a transfer for his client.

However, the club distanced themselves from any agreement or talks, and released a statement after learning about the agreement with Enrique Riquelme. Jose Mourinho opted to bring in Bernardo Silva, closing the door on Fernandez, while PSG also backed out after learning that none of their main midfielders was looking to leave the club.

Enzo Maresca enters the chat after Manchester City agreement

After the FIFA World Cup ended, Pastore told Enzo Fernandez he would not be getting a transfer to PSG or Real Madrid. The midfielder, who had burnt bridges with several Chelsea players at the end of the season, was unsure how he would be welcomed back at Cobham.

Meanwhile, Pastore had contacted Enzo Maresca and Manchester City, who were interested in the move. The 25-year-old pushed for the move as soon as possible, as he was not interested in heading back to Chelsea training.

Xabi Alonso held talks with the midfielder during the FIFA World Cup, but the new manager was told by the Argentine that he was more out than in at the club. Fernandez, who returned to England late after the summer tournament, held direct talks with Alonso before his first training session and insisted he wants to leave.

Chelsea were reluctant to sell to Manchester City, but failing to convince Fernandez and Pastore led the club to set a deadline of August 14, with a verbal release clause of £120 million. Sources at the Etihad side told The Sportzine that the club’s decision-makers ‘laughed at’ the deadline and demand, believing they could get him cheaper if they waited until the end of the window.

Chelsea stand firm as Enzo Fernandez pushes for move

Enzo Fernandez told Chelsea he was unwilling to play for the club again after coming on for the final minutes against Fulham in the season opener. Alonso left him out of the squad for the remaining matches in August but chose to protect the player in the media.

Chelsea sources insist that the decision was left to the manager, who has been praised internally for doing everything to show that the club were happy to keep their midfielder. They believe the manager’s words helped keep the ball in their court and push the fee above their verbal clause.

Pastore repeatedly tried to hold negotiations before Chelsea and Manchester City in the final days, but was pushed back. The Etihad side were also quoted £130 million by the Blues to reopen talks, before a swift agreement was reached at £125 million.

One current Chelsea player, who has opted to remain anonymous, told The Sportzine that the squad had distanced themselves from Fernandez. He added that Valentin Barco was the only player who had any contact with the Argentine outside Cobham since he joined training in early August.