Liam Rosenior has endured a difficult week at the helm of Chelsea. The club exited the Champions League and, in the aftermath of a 3–0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain, the ex-Benfica man said he doesn’t know if he’ll be at Chelsea next season. Fernández was a $142 million signing from Benfica in 2023 and has come of age over the past 18 months. In an environment where player trading is prioritised and BlueCo’s ultimate goals are unclear, a player who had looked set to be a steady staple is now laying the foundations for potential departure.

That admission has opened the door to transfer intrigue. Manchester City were listed among the clubs that could pursue Fernández this summer. The draft notes his ball-carrying and box-crashing abilities have drawn comparisons to a peak İlkay Gündoğan. City have already been reshaping their midfield after the departures of David Silva, Gündoğan and Kevin De Bruyne in recent years. Nico González was signed last January to provide cover for Rodri, while Tijjani Reijnders and Rayan Cherki joined in the summer to add thrust and creativity. The piece suggests City may not commit major resources to Fernández this summer unless a managerial change occurs; should Pep Guardiola leave and Enzo Maresca replace him, the chance of a move could increase, given Maresca’s previous work with Chelsea’s No. 8 at Stamford Bridge.

Diego Simeone’s Atlético Madrid is presented as another option. The article argues Atlético’s style could suit Fernández’s technical game and that he might thrive in the slower tempo of La Liga. It adds caveats: Simeone’s 4-4-2 may not match the auxiliary No. 10 role Fernández produced his best work in at Chelsea, and Atlético may be reluctant to spend heavily for a position in which they believe themselves well stocked.

Finally, the piece examines the Saudi route. Public Investment Fund-owned clubs have the finances to interest Chelsea, with Al Hilal singled out as the most likely of the Saudi sides to make a midfield splash despite recently extending Rúben Neves. The article notes early indications suggest the 25-year-old Fernández does not want to move to the Middle East at this stage of his career.

The UK government is preparing legal action to obtain access to the $3.2 billion held from Roman Abramovich’s sale of Chelsea in 2022. A consortium led by Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital paid a total of $5.2 billion (£4.25 billion) for the club, with $3.2 billion the final sale price and a pledge of $2 billion in investment over the next 10 years.

The $3.2 billion remains frozen in a U.K. bank account controlled by Fordstam, Abramovich’s company, because the parties have not agreed on the funds’ intended use. The government now says it will pursue litigation to secure the money after negotiations failed to reach a resolution.

A government spokesperson said: “We gave Roman Abramovich his last chance to do the right thing. Once again, he has failed to make the donation he committed to.

“We will now take further steps to ensure that the promise he made at the time of the Chelsea sale is kept.”

The disagreement stems from the wording of the 2022 agreement. Both sides say the money should support victims of the war, but they differ on how that is defined. The government wants to send the entire sum to Ukraine, while Abramovich has argued there are victims of the conflict outside of Ukraine, including in his native Russia.

Legal action was seen as the likely outcome more than 12 months ago, and another year of unsuccessful talks has left the government concluding there is no alternative. Reports of an investigation in Jersey, where some of Abramovich’s money was managed, have added to the uncertainty surrounding the funds.

The draft sale and much of Abramovich’s Chelsea investment were funded through a series of offshore loans, including more than $2 billion interest-free from a Jersey company, Camberley International Investments.

Chelsea’s European exit left the club with clear on-field problems and a new layer of uncertainty after Enzo Fernández offered a terse assessment of his immediate plans. The Blues were beaten 8–2 on aggregate by Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League round of 16, a tie settled by goals from Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Bradley Barcola and Senny Mayulu.

Fernández, the club’s vice-captain, was asked about his future and responded: “I don’t know,” Fernández said. “I don’t know—right now, I’m thinking here. There are eight games left [in the Premier League ] and the FA Cup and then there’s the World Cup and then we’ll see, we’ll see.”

The midfielder’s sombre mood followed a night in which Mamadou Sarr’s early mistake allowed Kvaratskhelia a simple opening goal after six minutes, and Barcola rifled an uncontested strike into Robert Sánchez’s top corner before the 15-minute mark. Rosenior made significant changes around the hour, withdrawing Cole Palmer, João Pedro and Fernández.

Asked about Fernández’s comments, Rosenior said: “I haven’t seen that. It’s hard for me to speak on speculation after a game,” he mused. “I need to focus right now on the most important things, which is making sure we get a result against Everton on Saturday.”

Rosenior also reflected on the scale of the defeat. “When you go two goals down so early and five goals down on aggregate, it’s a really, really difficult evening,” Rosenior sighed. “We wanted to obviously put up more of a fight than what we did. Credit to PSG. Their possession play was really, really top in the game and over the two legs they deserve to go through.”

Pressed on the wider impact, he added: “That’s my job,” he continued when probed on how he’ll prevent the past seven days from defining Chelsea ’s season. “How I go about that is how we always go about it. We need to be resilient. We need to make sure we go to Everton with an organization, with a freshness and intensity in our team because we want to be in this competition next season … if we perform how I know we can, we can get there without the individual mistakes that we’re making at the moment.”

Fernández has started more games than anybody during 2025–26 and logged the most minutes across all competitions. He is enjoying his best goal return with 12 in all competitions, eight in the Premier League, as Chelsea fight to secure Champions League qualification for next season.