Enzo Maresca says that Enzo Fernandez is “ready” to make his debut for Manchester City following his club record transfer on Deadline Day.
City bought the midfielder from Chelsea for a £125 million transfer fee, matching the British record set by Liverpool last summer when they signed Alexander Isak from Newcastle United.
Fernandez has only played 30 minutes so far this season after he was left out of Chelsea’s matchday squads for games against Luton Town and Brighton, but Maresca insists “Enzo is ready” to face Coventry City on Saturday.
Enzo Fernandez ‘ready’ to play for Man City following £125m transfer
Speaking at his pre-match press conference on Friday, the Italian coach said: “He knows how to win – World Cup, Club World Cup – and the main thing is that he’s a winner.”
Asked if the squad are happy Fernandez has joined City, Maresca responded: “I just said he is a winner and when you belong to a squad and another winning player arrives, they are always happy.
“I can promise you that in the last four or five days, four or five players from the squad were asking if he is coming or not because they want him to be with us.
“It’s very important that he is with us, and we are 100 per cent happy with that.”
Maresca also praised Coventry boss Frank Lampard after guiding the Midlands outfit to Premier League promotion last season.
“For me, he did a fantastic job last season and he is going to do a fantastic job this season again,” he said.
“I can see clearly what they want to do on the ball and off the ball and no doubt that tomorrow is going to be a difficult game because all the Premier League games are difficult.”
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