Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez will remain at Stamford Bridge after a deadline to trigger his £120 million transfer expired without any bids on Friday.
Manchester City and other interested clubs did not lodge a bid for the Argentina international ahead of the 5 p.m. cut-off. Chelsea bosses now insist that the chances of the midfielder leaving London before the transfer window closes are all but over.
Fernandez had wanted to link back up with former manager Enzo Maresca at the Etihad Stadium. Chelsea told the player's representatives in May that they would facilitate a transfer if a £120m figure was met, but those terms have now been removed.
While Manchester City are unlikely to believe a potential deal is completely dead, the Premier League champions probably would not commit to the sort of financial outlay Chelsea initially demanded.
City are waiting for the future of midfielder Rodri to be finalised before completing further business, with Barcelona still confident of securing the Spain captain. City want in excess of £60m for the World Cup winner, and the two clubs remain in negotiations over a transfer fee.
Rodri, who underwent back surgery after the World Cup, returned to City's training ground for pre-season testing on Friday. The 30-year-old travelled back to Manchester on a Ryanair flight to Liverpool on Thursday evening and met Maresca hours later.
Manchester City transfer activity
Maresca admitted that City still have a significant amount of work to do in the transfer window. Midfielder Tijjani Reijnders is on his way to Saudi Arabian side Al Qadsiah for £52m, while Tottenham Hotspur are looking to wrap up a deal for winger Savinho. City face London rivals Arsenal in the Community Shield on Sunday.
Speaking ahead of the fixture, the 46-year-old Italian manager suggested that there could be further outgoings from the Etihad Stadium in the coming weeks.
"We’ll see what happens with some more, there is a change in this moment," Maresca said. "We are in a moment where players that were here many years have already left or [others who] probably can leave."
"And that means there is a change," he added. "We're going to try to do our best. At the moment the transfer window closes, we need to be good enough to find as soon as possible solutions for the team."
Maresca refused to discuss target players from other clubs, pointing out that "I don’t think it’s good when people from other clubs speak about our players" following a summer of discussion around Rodri in Spain.
Squad changes at Etihad Stadium
Reijnders decided to pursue other opportunities following a lack of starting appearances last season, and Maresca believes there are other squad members in the same situation.
"They all work every day, they all do sessions every day and at the end of the week they all want to play a game," Maresca explained. "When they don’t play, they struggle to understand or they struggle to see the reason why and I can understand that after one season some of them would like to play a little bit more."
"It’s a bit difficult to convince players when they are already convinced," he continued. "You need to change their thoughts, that is not always easy."
"Tijjani’s situation is like James Trafford’s situation and some more players but I think when the club, the player, the manager, they all think the same way, that probably the best decision for a player is to go, you have to go," Maresca concluded.
