Enzo Fernandez: Three ways Man City could line up with £125m signing under Enzo Maresca

Manchester City person experienced a transformative summertime successful which they person spent implicit £400m connected caller players, with Enzo Fernández the crown jewel signed, sealed and delivered connected Deadline Day.

The 25-year-old Argentina planetary has arrived from Chelsea for a whopping £125m, which represents a club-record signing for Man City and the associated most-expensive transportation successful Premier League past on with Liverpool’s Alexander Isak.

Fernandez, who will deterioration the No.17 shirt astatine the Etihad Stadium, has reunited with his erstwhile Chelsea brag Enzo Maresca and is acceptable to play an important relation successful a new-look midfield.

Elliot Anderson and Ayyoub Bouaddi are 2 much big-money signings made by Man City, who besides person Mateo Kovacic, Nico O’Reilly, Rayan Cherki, Phil Foden, Matheus Nunes and Rico Lewis who tin run successful cardinal midfield positions.

The burning question for Man City supporters is however Maresca tin acceptable these pieces into the aforesaid jigsaw puzzle, striking the cleanable equilibrium to physique a squad susceptible of challenging for aggregate trophies this play and beyond.

Here, Sports Mole takes a look astatine 3 imaginable ways that Man City could enactment up with Fernandez successful Maresca’s team.

Fernandez astatine Man City: The deep-lying orchestrator (4-2-3-1)

Described by manager of shot Hugo Viana arsenic a “complete midfielder” Fernandez is much than susceptible of operating successful a assortment of antithetic cardinal positions, prioritising either antiaircraft oregon attacking responsibilities.

The Argentine has the attributes to execute successful a deep-lying midfield relation wherever helium has played astatine erstwhile clubs Chelsea and Benfica, providing extortion to a backmost 4 portion besides pulling the strings from the basal of a treble pivot.

At Man City, Fernandez could beryllium alongside Anderson, Bouaddi, Kovacic oregon adjacent O’Reilly arsenic a combative ball-winner, dictating the tempo of the crippled and spraying progressive passes into the last third.

In this relation successful a 4-2-3-1 formation, Fernandez would presumably task guardant little often and would beryllium required to stay disciplined successful his positioning to guarantee City support full power implicit counter-attacks.

Fernandez astatine Man City: The dynamic No.8 (4-3-3)

Should Maresca springiness Fernandez the licence to drift further guardant and lend much successful an astir the opposition’s punishment box, Fernandez could instrumentality up 1 of 2 No.8 positions successful a three-man midfield arsenic portion of a 4-3-3 system.

While idiosyncratic specified arsenic Anderson oregon Bouaddi operates successful the deeper midfield presumption protecting the backmost four, Fernandez playing arsenic a dynamic fig 8 alongside either Phil Foden oregon Rayan Cherki, for example, would let the Argentine to showcase the full, box-to-box breadth of his divers midfielder skillset.

He would beryllium granted the state to modulation seamlessly betwixt helping retired successful the archetypal build-up phase, connecting the antiaircraft enactment to the attack, and arriving precocious into precocious areas.

Fernandez’s precocious shot IQ ensures helium balances his guardant bursts with hard-pressing antiaircraft duties erstwhile City suffer possession, and this would beryllium adjacent much indispensable if idiosyncratic similar Cherki - who notoriously tracks backmost little than immoderate of his teammates - is playing alongside him.

Fernandez astatine Man City: The punishment box-crashing No.10 (4-2-3-1)

Towards the extremity of his three-year spell astatine Chelsea, Fernandez played regularly arsenic an precocious midfielder oregon arsenic a No.10, and became a accordant menace successful the opposition’s punishment box, scoring 15 goals crossed each competitions past season.

Should helium beryllium positioned straight down the striker (Erling Haaland) astatine Man City, his superior work shifts from heavy orchestration to creating and finishing high-value chances successful and astir the information zone.

Fernandez would beryllium required to utilises his crisp spatial consciousness to exploit the gaps created by City's wingers stretching the absorption backline.

This presumption would besides escaped the Argentine from focusing heavy connected antiaircraft tracking, letting him pinpoint his vigor connected lethal edge-of-the-box shooting and delicate through-balls.

However, Fernandez faces stern contention from playmakers Cherki and Foden to play regularly successful this position, unless Maresca has a fewer tricks up his sleeve and introduces a strategy with 2 No.10s.