Chelsea’s future runs through Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo

Chelsea’s journey under the new BlueCo ownership has been turbulent, polarizing, and nearly every word under the sun. Led by American owner Todd Boehly’s Clearlake Capital, Chelsea have spent over a billion pounds in player purchases since January 2022. Those purchases can be split into four categories.

The players that haven’t become Chelsea players yet but were seen as big-time investments into the future — Estevao, Kendry Paez, Mike Penders, Geovany Quenda.

Players that were bought to be sent to sister club Strasbourg (also owned by BlueCo), either to raise market value or develop for the future — Andrey Santos, Djordje Petrovic, Caleb Wiley, Angelo, and Diego Moreira.

Really hard to explain transfers that were done to build relationships with agents, increase fan interest abroad, or that weird time where Todd Boehly was the Director of Football — Nearly *every* other transfer

And even with all the chaos and player trading, there’s still the slam-dunk transfers who have cemented themselves as the key pillars in Chelsea’s long term strategy. Of course everybody knows Cole Palmer as one of them. But midfield duo Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo have reached levels so high they have to be put into this category, as they lead Chelsea into the chase for a return to the Champions League.

Cole Palmer’s move was done quietly, the transfers of Fernandez and Caicedo were anything but

Fernandez, a Benfica player for just six months, shone at the 2022 World Cup and emerged on the radar of Europe’s biggest clubs. However, the fact he just moved to Portugal as well as Benfica’s high asking price put a lot of teams off of making a move for the Argentine. Desperate to start off his Chelsea ownership with a bang, Boehly and co-owner Behdad Eghbali paid the €120 million at the end of a transfer window that seemed to go on for ages. From Chelsea’s offer of €127 million at the beginning, to their attempt at negotiating the price down, to Fernandez’s transfer request only to point at the Benfica badge after scoring, ultimately to Fernandez inking a rare nine-year contract after refusing to play for Benfica.

Caicedo’s transfer was no less dramatic. The Ecuadorian midfielder had been heavily linked to Chelsea since the start of the summer, but no major progress had been made. With the end of the transfer window looming, the Blues came back in and were interested in completing a deal. That was until Liverpool swooped in with a €111 million offer that was accepted by Brighton, and Liverpool thought they had their man. However, Caicedo dramatically rejected the move to Liverpool, saying he only wanted a move to Chelsea. Boehly then upped his offer, and Caicedo moved to London. 

Both Fernandez and Caicedo have been victims of an incredibly rocky couple of years under new ownership, with the latter getting off to an especially poor start. Caicedo would admit that the reason behind this was the pressure that came with the transfer, perhaps a cause of such public transfer dealings. “The beginning was tough for me, because you are at a big club, the price, you always have to win every game," Caicedo said. "It was tough for me because when I was in Brighton, the pressure is less. At Chelsea, it is different. I felt a lot of pressure because you know the club, the history, the players who were there.” 

"It was tough for me because when I was in Brighton, the pressure is less. At Chelsea, it is different. I felt a lot of pressure because you know the club, the history, the players who were there.”

Two seasons on, Caicedo now has Chelsea’s Player of the Year and Players’ Player of the Year under his belt and has cemented himself as one of Europe’s best midfielders.

Caicedo has played the second most minutes of any Chelsea player with just over 3,339 at the time of writing, Enzo finds himself fourth with just over 3,000. The majority of these minutes have come in the Premier League, with Caicedo starting every match so far, and Fernandez often next to him. While you’ll find the two listed one after the other on the team sheet as central midfielders in a 4-2-3-1 formation, you often won't see them next to each other on the pitch.

Instead, in possession, Enzo Fernandez will push forward next to the attacking midfielder Cole Palmer, and Chelsea’s wingers will stay wide and hug the touchline so there is enough room for all four of them on the same line. With Fernandez and Palmer forward, Caicedo’s midfield partner is instead a full-back who will roam inside to sit alongside him in midfield, while the defensive line is made up of the two centre backs and the opposite full back. 

The roles that Fernandez and Palmer play in possession as dual attacking midfielders means they are responsible for the team’s attacking output while operating in the ‘Half-Spaces’. The half spaces are the area of the pitch between the very center and out wide. Other teams use players in these areas as well, either with a false nine who drops deep to link up play, a winger who sits narrower to be more involved in possession, or a free-roaming midfielder. Whatever their original position, they are usually the key to unlocking a stubborn defense and will be the one to turn a good passage of play into a goal. 

Fernandez and Palmer are the only two Chelsea players with over 20 goal contributions (Goals + Assists) in the team. This is because Fernandez will often find himself arriving into the box more than the wingers. Whoever is out wide, be it Noni Madueke, Pedro Neto, or Jadon Sancho, will never try to make an inside run without the ball, instead they’ll come deep and try to bring the ball forward with their dribbling. The three wingers rank first, second, and third in progressive carries on Chelsea, with Fernandez nearly 100 less than Madueke. With the wingers hugging the touchline while bringing the ball forward, the space to attack the box is left to Fernandez.

Once Enzo has made that underlapping run, he’ll often look to continue his run and find either Cole Palmer or Nicholas Jackson, and occasionally take a shot himself. The Argentine ranks ninth across Europe’s top five leagues for key passes, and tenth in Shot-Creating Actions. Proving that he is the one to play the final killer pass, usually in a very forward position. 

During the first phase of possession when the ball is deeper and Caicedo and Fernandez are in their initial positions next to each other, Fernandez will begin to make his run vertically so that he can be found in a position above the opposition’s midfield line, and Caicedo stays below it. 

While Fernandez’s game has transformed from a deeper playmaker to an attacking midfielder, Caicedo remains the all-action powerhouse that carries everything Chelsea does in the middle of the pitch. 

Caicedo’s impact is best described like the scene in The Office where Michael Scott found out that everything in America was actually made in China. There isn’t much that goes on offensively or defensively without the influence of Moises Caicedo.

 If Enzo Fernandez is the icing on top of the cake that gets all the goals and assists to his name, Caicedo is the straw that stirs the drink. The Ecuadorian has the sixth most touches of the ball out of anyone in the Premier League this season, as well as the fourth most passes into the final third (where Enzo Fernandez will advance to). And despite often playing with his back to the opposition and receiving the ball under pressure, he’s only been dispossessed 24 times, tied for the 90th most in the Premier League. 

All this to say that Caicedo is a very good player on the ball, he’s not a pass-master that will rack up dozens of key passes, or a box threat that will create lots of goal scoring chances. He’s just a midfielder who is very reliable in possession and won’t look to take too many risks. But out of possession, there arguably isn’t anyone better in the world than Moises Caicedo. 

While Chelsea’s usual front five engage in a high man-to-man press, Caicedo will often lurk behind the opposition's option for an outlet pass, hoping to intercept the ball like a free-safety. 

When people use the phrase ‘reading the game’, they often talk about Xavi’s ability to scan the pitch before making a pass, but it applies to ball-winning as well. Caicedo relies on his instinct and quick step while lurking behind Chelsea’s press to win the ball back in isolated, high-risk situations. He will then take advantage of Chelsea’s numerical superiority and start a counter-attack that begins in the opposition third.

Because he engages in such high-risk duels, he’ll often have to commit a foul because on the rare occasion an opponent gets by Caicedo, Chelsea are left in an incredibly vulnerable position. Caicedo ranks sixth in Europe’s top five leagues for tackles won, but ninth in fouls committed, a trade-off necessary for a player of his defensive responsibility. Caicedo also ranks seventh in the Premier League for interceptions, a statistic that like tackles, is primarily dominated by full-backs, centre-backs, and the occasional Alexis MacAllister appearance.  

Caicedo’s incredible anticipation was shown by winning a penalty to seal Chelsea’s 3-1 win over Liverpool last weekend. 

The reason why the partnership of Caicedo and Fernandez works so well is that in addition to covering up each other's weaknesses, they have become an extension of each other. Caicedo takes the responsibility of picking up the ball from the defense and moving it on to Fernandez either quickly during a fast-transition, or taking his time in possession. Fernandez then takes the ball and uses his creativity and vision to play the final pass to one of Chelsea’s attackers.

Defensively, Fernandez is unfortunately really weak in this area, manager Enzo Maresca will sometimes have to use Pedro Neto as cover for Fernandez and have him press high as if he were an attacker. Caicedo taking the mantle from N’Golo Kante and Claude Makalele in becoming one of the world’s best ground eaters in midfield is a big help in covering Fernandez’s shortcomings. 

The two midfielders have reached a level so high that nobody talks about the record-breaking fees Chelsea paid for them. They’ve cemented themselves as key pieces in a project that football hasn’t seen before and isn’t entirely sure what it is. With both midfielders donning the captain's armband on multiple occasions and tied down to incredibly long contracts, Chelsea will have zero regrets over the prices they’ve paid.