Even if he cost more than £105 million, Enzo Maresca, Chelsea manager, does not consider Enzo Fernandez a starter just because of that.

Since his then-record-breaking transfer from Benfica in 2023, Fernandez has failed to impress, and Maresca has benched him for both of his Premier League matches this season.

Despite being picked to a starting lineup that saw numerous changes, the Argentine midfielder failed to impress in Newcastle’s 2-0 Carabao Cup loss at St. James’ Park.

This Sunday, Maresca will take his midfield duo of Romeo Lavia and Moises Caicedo to Manchester United, and Lavia has stated emphatically that one should not evaluate a player based on their transfer fee.

“Remember, there were questions raised regarding Moi [Caicedo] and the fee the club paid for him,” Maresca remarked. Neither Enzo nor I have any responsibility for that.

People assume they’ll be the top player just because the club spent a hundred million pounds on them. The amount you paid is irrelevant.

They are still people, and it doesn’t bother me if you pay a hundred million pounds. We can talk about how much you’re willing to spend for me.

You are not required to be at your peak performance in every game. Just because they play football doesn’t mean they can consistently perform at a high level.Enzo isn’t playing right now, but that’s not because of any issues. So far, the opportunities we’ve given him have been fruitful. I prefer the middle ground physicality of Moi and Romeo, which is the sole reason he isn’t playing.

Because clubs spend so much money on players, people demand them to be the best all the time. That doesn’t mean Enzo won’t offer us physicality in the future, but all this talk about Enzo is just a result of that. No, it is incorrect.

In last Sunday’s 2-1 victory against Newcastle, Cole Palmer once again shone. In a thrilling 4-3 match between Chelsea and United at Stamford Bridge in April, the English international scored a hat trick against the club he supported as a youngster.

Maresca has stated that the 22-year-old, who has emerged as one of the Premier League’s top performers since joining from Manchester City last year, must learn accustomed to being a marked man if he aspires to advance to a higher level.

According to Maresca, the next thing for Cole to do is to keep his cool when teams mark him man to man. After all, even the top players in the world get tagged sometimes.

“They weren’t too concerned with marking Cole last season, so he came to Chelsea for the first time. Probably the other way around, though.

This year, they are more anxious than they were last year, so he’ll have to adjust. He is capable of completing the next, more challenging phase.