Fernandez was not the only Chelsea star to echo those sentiments regarding Maresca and a future a transfer to La Liga, with another of their more senior players, Marc Cucurella, chiming in.
“With Enzo Maresca in charge, we were more stable, because we worked together for 18 months,” the left-back told The Athletic. “If you look at our first pre-season with him, there were doubts. You need a process for every player to understand what we need to do. In our last months with Maresca, we played almost by heart. If we changed the system, we knew what we had to do. You need that time.
“When a manager gives you that confidence and offers you a platform to fight for titles, you’d die for him. The moment Maresca left, it had a big impact on us. These are decisions taken by the club. If you asked me, I would not have made this decision.
“The instability around the club comes from this, in a nutshell. We had a caretaker (former under-21s coach Calum McFarlane) first, then a new manager, with new ideas and no time to work on them. To make a change like that, the best thing is to wait until the end of the season. You would give everyone, the players and the new manager, time to get ready, have a full pre-season… Look at Arsenal now, who are fighting for every trophy. They’ve been with (Mikel) Arteta for almost seven years and they have not won much. But that trust in the project gives rewards.”
At least when it came to being asked about a return to Spain with boyhood club Barcelona, Cucurella decided to kick the can down the road and insist he would likely still be at Chelsea even beyond this summer, unlike Fernandez.
“It would be difficult to refuse,” he said of joining Barca again. “It’s not just about me. I’d have to think about my family. If it happens, it happens, and we’ll see what decision is made. You always think about going back. (But) I’m very happy there (in England), and so is my family. I’ll leave it for a few years from now.”
Fernandez’s Chelsea contract runs until 2032, so the club hold all the leverage in negotiations should he actively seek a move, but Cucurella’s deal is believed to be up in 2028, despite agreeing a substantial pay rise, and it would be easier for him to engineer an exit.
