Arsenal Join Enzo Fernandez Transfer Battle with Focus on Tonali

Arsenal have stepped into one of the summer’s most volatile transfer battles, joining Manchester City and Real Madrid in the chase for Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez – but he is not the name at the very top of Mikel Arteta’s wishlist.

The London club are tracking the Argentine World Cup winner, according to reports, as uncertainty swirls around his future at Stamford Bridge. Yet inside Arsenal’s recruitment meetings, another midfielder sits in the “priority” slot: Newcastle United’s Sandro Tonali.

Arsenal enter Enzo race – but with a caveat

Chelsea shattered the British transfer record in February 2023 when they wired Benfica £107million for Fernandez. It was a statement signing, a marquee arrival for the Todd Boehly era. That figure has since been eclipsed by deals for Moises Caicedo, Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, but the weight of expectation on Fernandez has never really shifted.

His start in England was uneven. New league, chaotic club, revolving-door managers. Yet while Chelsea staggered to a 10th-place finish in the Premier League and lost the FA Cup final to Manchester City, Fernandez quietly put together a season that underlined his status: 15 goals and seven assists across 54 games. In a team that lurched from one crisis to another, he became one of the few constants.

Now he wants out.

The 25-year-old does not want to wait through another rebuild to compete for the Premier League and the Champions League. The departure of head coach Enzo Maresca, with whom he had built a strong relationship, cut deep and accelerated his desire to move. He has already instructed his agent to speak with interested clubs.

New Chelsea manager Xabi Alonso is desperate to keep him. In Alonso’s vision, Fernandez is a pillar of the next Chelsea side, not a saleable asset. But the player’s camp is moving, and the market is listening.

Arsenal are among those listening.

The Gunners are “monitoring the situation” and could test Chelsea’s resolve with a move that would send shockwaves across London. Any deal would be complicated and expensive: Chelsea have no intention of taking a significant loss and have set a price of around €120m (£104m), only slightly below what they paid Benfica.

Tonali remains Arteta’s main midfield obsession

Despite the noise around Fernandez, the name most heavily underlined in Arsenal’s summer plans is Sandro Tonali.

Arteta and the club’s hierarchy made contact with Tonali’s representatives in January and have not stepped back since. The Italian midfielder is understood to be open to leaving Newcastle, with both Arsenal and Manchester United circling. His price is expected to sit around €100m (£87m).

For Arsenal, Tonali offers a different profile: aggression, tempo, and a presence that can reshape the spine of their midfield. That is why, even with a player as gifted as Fernandez potentially available, Tonali is regarded as the primary target.

Arsenal’s interest in Fernandez, then, sits in a different lane – opportunistic, reactive to what Madrid and City might do, and contingent on how the rest of their window unfolds.

Madrid and City still lead the Enzo queue

When it comes to Fernandez, the power axis still runs through Madrid and Manchester.

Reports in Spain this week suggested the Argentine would prefer a move to Real Madrid over Manchester City. During the March international break, Fernandez himself fuelled the speculation, speaking openly about how much he would like to live in Madrid and likening the Spanish capital to Buenos Aires. For a player of his profile, the Bernabeu holds an obvious pull.

Inside Madrid, there is alignment. Jose Mourinho and Florentino Perez agree that the club need to bring in another elite midfielder to sustain their dominance and manage the transition of their ageing core. With City refusing to entertain any talk of selling Rodri, Fernandez has emerged as a logical alternative.

City, for now, are watching from a distance. Fabrizio Romano reported on Wednesday that Maresca “loves” Fernandez, but cooled suggestions that talks between City and Chelsea are already underway. Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson remains City’s top midfield target. Only if that pursuit collapses would Fernandez move up their list.

So the picture is clear: Chelsea want to keep him, Madrid would like to lure him, City are lurking, and Arsenal are hovering on the fringes of the race, eyes still fixed on Tonali.

The market will decide who blinks first.