Manchester City Targets Enzo Fernández Amid Rodri-to-Barcelona Deal

The final stretch of a transfer window has its own kind of chaos. Timelines shrink, certainties bend, and within a couple of phone calls a squad can feel like it belongs to another era. That is the landscape Fabrizio Romano painted in his latest update, describing a fortnight ahead that will be “crazy busy” as the summer window hurtles towards its close and “the news is coming every second”.

At the centre of it all sits one bombshell: Barcelona and Rodri.

Romano’s claim was blunt and headline-ready: “Rodri to Barcelona is a here we go. The deal is done.” He called it “a massive one” and set it against the wider history of the game, labelling Rodri “one of the most important players in the last 15 years of football”.

If that move holds, it does more than reshape Barcelona. It rips a pillar out of Manchester City’s midfield.

And that is where Enzo Fernández walks into the story.

City’s Midfield Reset: All Eyes on Enzo

Strip away the noise and one name keeps returning in Romano’s reporting: Enzo Fernández.

“Manchester City are still thinking of Enzo Fernandez in midfield,” he said, stressing that his stance has not changed across recent videos. He did not leave it there. He circled back to the point repeatedly, tightening the message each time: “Manchester City are not giving up for Enzo Fernandez even after the deadline.”

That is not the language of casual admiration. It sounds like a chase that has moved from vague interest into a sustained, deliberate push.

Romano laid out the situation in clear terms. “Man City know that they have to negotiate. Now there is no longer a verbal agreement on the exit.” Whatever soft understanding might once have existed has evaporated. The dynamic has shifted.

Control now sits firmly in west London.

“Now it’s Chelsea deciding, it’s Chelsea evaluating the situation,” Romano explained. City can plan, call, and push, but they cannot set the rules of engagement. The power sits with the club that already owns the player they want.

That is the hard edge of this story. Manchester City may see Enzo as the ideal answer to a Rodri-sized hole. They may be prepared to keep knocking on the door even beyond the window’s formal cut-off. But the key line belongs to Chelsea.

“It’s going to be important to understand more on this story because it’s on Chelsea to decide the price,” Romano said.

In a market fuelled by urgency and need, that is the reality in its purest form: admiration does not move a player. Money does. And the club in possession still calls the price.