Manchester City’s transfer window is a case of better late than never.The past few weeks have often been regarded as uncertain and panicked from the outside looking in, as players were sold with weeks of the window left and much-needed replacements only brought in late in the day — in some notable cases, very late.There was a hint of anxiety about the deadline-day purchases of Iliman Ndiaye and Enzo Fernandez, but ultimately City have remodelled their squad significantly, replacing bona fide club legends with exciting arrivals and shipping out unconvincing performers for significant fees.The fact that many of those unconvincing performers were signed in the past 18 months should provide a hint of caution, but City intended to fully back new coach Enzo Maresca and, after finalising a deal for top target Fernandez on the final day, they can be pleased they have done that.“In the summer, we know exactly what we want to do, who we are targeting, and I promise you, we’ll be as efficient and swift as possible.”That was the message from chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak at the end of last season but while City moved relatively early to secure a then-Premier League record deal worth £116million ($157m) for Nottingham Forest’s Elliot Anderson, the bulk of their business had to wait until the final week of the window.Their long-anticipated capture of Fernandez even looked in danger of falling flat on the penultimate day, after Chelsea indicated they wanted a fixed fee of £135m, City having made an opening offer of £104m plus add-ons. City said they were prepared to walk away but in the end agreed to pay £125m on Tuesday afternoon.On Tuesday morning, Fernandez’s family were planning to travel to Manchester from London but at that stage they still did not know whether the player had permission from Chelsea to leave.City are happy that after difficult negotiations they lowered the £135m demands at the very end of the window, though Chelsea had made it known they had told Fernandez’s camp in May that he could go this summer for £120m. They set a very public deadline of 5pm on August 14 for bids to arrive, which City did not appear to take seriously. After that cutoff, Chelsea wanted a higher fee.It has left the impression that City ended up paying an extra £5m by waiting until the end of the window.Why soccer transfers are so different from trades in U.S. sportsHannah Vanbiber and Reuben PinderEither way, Fernandez had been a target from the outset. The Athletic reported City’s interest in April when previous manager Pep Guardiola’s future appeared uncertain. Behind the scenes, City had known Guardiola would be moving on for around a month, and the intention was for Maresca to replace him.Before the end of the season, City had decided Fernandez would be a key target, knowing that Rodri could leave. During pre-season in Asia, Maresca stressed that he had not asked City to specifically sign several Chelsea players, but did not rule out the possibility that somebody might arrive from Stamford Bridge before the deadline.Malo Gusto had been seen as an ideal option for right-back, but City had no intention of paying Chelsea’s £80m asking price. They also scouted Pedro Neto extensively and felt he ticked a lot of boxes for a winger, but they were not willing to pursue a deal for the level of fee Chelsea would have wanted.But there was always an intention to get the Fernandez deal done. The two Enzos became incredibly close during their time together at Chelsea and enjoyed long conversations about football. Fernandez voiced his displeasure when Maresca left Stamford Bridge in January and was very keen to play for him again.Sources familiar with negotiations on the City side say that Chelsea asked them to back away from signing Ayyoub Bouaddi so that he could replace Fernandez at Stamford Bridge, and to swap Nico O’Reilly for Gusto, on top of the full asking price. Chelsea deny that they asked for City to step aside so they could move for Bouaddi and say that Gusto was never available for a move.Enzo Maresca and Enzo Fernandez won the Club World Cup together at Chelsea (MI News/NurPhoto via Getty Images)Maresca covets the 25-year-old’s personality, dynamism, understanding of his game plan and ability to change matches with important contributions.Sources close to Maresca who, like others referenced in this article, spoke anonymously to protect relationships, say he had been given a big say over transfers, one of the benefits of being the new man in the job, and he worked closely with director of football Hugo Viana throughout the summer.