Chelsea's best player so far this season hasn't been Raheem Sterling or Thiago Silva, according to Sky Sports pundit Paul Merson.
The Arsenal icon has instead been left in awe by Enzo Fernandez's spectacular performances for the Blues, believing that he has been the best performer under new manager Mauricio Pochettino so far.
After incredible displays during Argentina’s World Cup success, the 22-year-old earned his £107m move from Benfica to Chelsea in January.
Although, since moving to Chelsea he has only won four Premier League games.
What did Paul Merson say about Enzo Fernandez?
Despite the west Londoners' embarrassing 1-0 defeat at home to Nottingham Forest on Saturday, which has left them 12th in the table, on only four points, Merson was still full of praise for the Argentine midfielder.
He said:
“Mauricio Pochettino will get it right because he’s a good manager, but it’s going to be hard. If they get in the top four then they will be pulling up trees.
“Enzo Fernandez is different class – a cut above the rest.
“There’s not enough guile in the team. You haven’t got players that will put the ball through the eye of a needle.
“They can’t break teams down. It’s like watching Subbuteo football – there’s no movement. Unless Fernandez finds that killer pass, no one else will.
"With Nicolas Jackson and Raheem Sterling’s pace, and Fernandez’s vision, they will cause havoc – like they did at West Ham in the first half.
“But what happened in the second half? West Ham sat deeper because they scored, and Chelsea could still be playing now and they wouldn’t have scored."
Is Merson right about Fernandez?
Despite Chelsea struggling for form since Fernandez joined the club, it is hard to disagree with the former centre-back's evaluation of the World Cup winner.
During the 2022 World Cup, four-time Champions League winner Lionel Messi was full of praise for Fernandez.
He said:
"I'm not surprised by Enzo
"I know him and I see him train every day. He deserves [the acclaim] because he's a spectacular player."
After joining last season, Chelsea’s new no.8 ranked as the fourth top performer of the 2022/23 season on Sofascore, with an average rating of 7.17, only behind Thiago Silva (7.26), N’Golo Kante (7.26) and Reece James (7.19).
However, after taking half a season to settle in at his new club, Fernandez has come into his own and now easily ranks as Chelsea’s top performer this season, with an average rating of 7.83, which is 0.23 higher than second-place Raheem Sterling and ahead of Silva (7.33), too.
His stats, per FBref, also back up his outstanding performances, in the last year he has ranked in the top 1% of midfielders in Europe for progressive passes, long passes completed, and passes into the final third, all per 90, highlighting just how crucial he has been in getting his side up the pitch.
Fernandez also ranks in the top 3% of European midfielders for touches, carries, passes blocked, passes completed and passes attempted per 90, proving he can help his side on the attack, control possession in the midfield and help the defence.
This shows that the midfield dynamo is certainly his side's most important player, and has proven himself to be even better than Chelsea's established Premier League players, such as Sterling, Silva and James.