Enzo Fernandez is a Manchester City player after Chelsea agreed to sell their World Cup-winning midfielder in a deal worth £125million, tying the British transfer record, on deadline day.The deal brought an end to a rollercoaster three and a half years at Stamford Bridge for Fernandez, who arrived in a €120million (£106m; $129m at the time) deal from Benfica in January 2023 and became one of the symbols of BlueCo-era Chelsea, for good and bad.How will the Argentinian be remembered in west London? Our two Chelsea correspondents Simon Johnson and Liam Twomey had a conversation to pick through his complicated legacy…Twomey: So, Simon, it’s finally over. The transfer saga of the summer ended with Enzo Fernandez getting his wish — well, perhaps not his first wish, which would have been Real Madrid — to go to Manchester City and be reunited with Enzo Maresca.He was the flagship BlueCo signing in January 2023, the first nine-figure transfer fee they agreed to pay, and he’s been a big part of Chelsea’s recent successes. He’s also been a contributor to their failures, and had his share of off-field issues.How will he be remembered at Chelsea?Johnson: It’s almost a bit like what the era has been, in that he promised much but didn’t deliver as much as you would have hoped for — and came at quite a price.Regular readers and listeners to our podcast Straight Outta Cobham will know I’ve been one of his biggest advocates, because I was impressed at the get-go by what I saw when he arrived from Benfica.Enzo Fernandez training shortly after he joined Chelsea in 2023 (Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)He was one of the shining lights in that troubled back end of the 2022-23 season under Graham Potter and Frank Lampard, and you saw the X factor. The following season, he had an injury and a ridiculous amount of football in his legs, which undoubtedly affected what he could do on the pitch. Maresca then came in and turned him into a slightly different player. He wasn’t quite the creative player Chelsea seemed to have signed when he first joined, but he became this midfield tank engine.He was also very much that nasty so-and-so. I remember him being compared to Dennis Wise, who was a very successful Chelsea captain but did have that nasty streak. One of the ways Fernandez would display it was by targeting ex-Chelsea players on the pitch, being antagonistic and winding them up, and fans loved him for it. But he’s ended up doing something worse than they ever did with his behaviour over the last six or seven months.So when it comes to Fernandez, I’m very confused. I see the positives, but I’m fully aware of the negatives.Twomey: He’s destined to be a villain at Chelsea now, isn’t he? There’s a real symmetry in the way he fought to get to the club in the first place, and burned his bridges on the way out of Benfica. If someone leaves their previous partner to be with you, it can’t be a shock if they eventually ditch you too.Johnson: Once a cheater, always a cheater. That may be a warning to Manchester City fans, because the Real Madrid conversation could be revived in a few years.Twomey: Chelsea fans were singing his name and clapping him as recently as the opening weekend of the Premier League season at Craven Cottage. Football is very tribal and that applause was mostly in response to the abuse he was getting from Fulham fans, but you can expect that goodwill to go away very quickly.You simply don’t leave a Premier League club like Chelsea in your prime for a domestic rival and expect your legacy to be anything other than in tatters. This is something Mason Mount experienced when he joined Manchester United in very different circumstances, and we can all remember how Fernandez acted towards Mount when he came back to Stamford Bridge.There was always something performative about Fernandez. The way he acted towards Mount, throwing the ball at Filip Jorgensen against Paris Saint-Germain, his public comments about Maresca’s departure, his posing with a pained stare in front of the away end after losing to Brighton & Hove Albion in Liam Rosenior’s last game.Enzo Fernandez after Chelsea’s 3-0 defeat against Brighton in April (Chris Lee – Chelsea FC/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)Some of those things play well with fans, but only as long as you’re committed. As soon as you’re flirting with Real Madrid on international duty and it becomes clear you’re pushing your way out, that kind of behaviour riles people even more.Johnson: You set your legacy on fire when you go to a domestic rival and he’s also aligned himself with Maresca, who is public enemy No 1 as far as many Chelsea supporters are concerned. He clearly played a big part in Fernandez joining City and there’s nothing wrong or unusual in that, but given the manner of Maresca’s departure from Chelsea, Fernandez will be tarred with the same brush for joining him.Twomey: Many people outside Chelsea always regarded Fernandez as a villain, not least as a result of the racist song incident on Argentina’s team bus in 2024. At the time, it was a mark of how highly he was valued that the club stood by him in the days and weeks that followed. And while he apologised publicly and privately, it was also an early warning sign of the ignorance, immaturity and poor judgment that have surfaced at times since.Johnson: That was not great at all. He then went on to have a good season — like him or loathe him, it shows he has a personality that can handle being in the negative spotlight and not let it affect him too much. Anyone of a Manchester City persuasion will hope he can block out the jeers again. He has become more unpopular among many Premier League fans since Argentina’s World Cup semi-final victory against England.We have to talk about his discipline, too. He got well into double figures for dissent bookings and embodied one of the problems that has dogged Chelsea for several years. He set a pretty bad example as a senior player.Before Xabi Alonso arrived, he was still one of the most important players at Chelsea. Only Joao Pedro scored more goals than him last season. That facet of his game noticeably improved and he scored some big goals, including the winner against Leeds United in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley only a few weeks after being banned by Chelsea.Enzo Fernandez celebrates against Leeds in April’s FA Cup semi-final (Carl Recine/Getty Images)There are positives and negatives, summed up by the reception he got in August’s friendly against Real Sociedad before this deal was finalised. There were quite a few boos but also a lot of cheers and fans singing his name. You can be sure that won’t be repeated when he and Maresca come back to Stamford Bridge in April. They’ll be vying for the boo boys’ attention that day.Twomey: That will be a real test of the lungs and voice boxes.Johnson: The supporters in the ground will find out what it’s like for Brighton fans whenever they play Chelsea.Twomey: Speaking of Brighton fans booing their former players, Fernandez will suffer in comparison with Moises Caicedo, whose approval rating among supporters has been sky-high. You can draw a pretty direct contrast in how they handled their businesses.Caicedo has been super low-key, taking every opportunity to voice his commitment to Chelsea when asked about his future and signing a new contract with minimal fuss last season. Of the two massive tentpole midfield signings the club made in 2023, he is well positioned to be at the centre of Alonso’s bright new era.Is Enzo Fernandez actually worth £125million?JJ BullJohnson: You could also argue that Caicedo is just more important than Fernandez. There were natural questions about whether Alonso’s 3-4-2-1 would suit Fernandez anyway, because clearly he wasn’t going to play as far forward and crash the penalty area. It’s difficult to see Fernandez’s lack of pace being suited to a more structured, disciplined, more defensive role in midfield. They were never 100 per cent convincing as a defensive partnership in that area of the pitch.If we talk about the price tag, Chelsea have done very well. They were right to ask for £120million given the fee City paid for Elliot Anderson, who wasn’t as advanced in his career as Fernandez. He’s now got a lot of pressure on his shoulders to justify the move.But the caveat for Chelsea is that they couldn’t bring anyone in on deadline day. The money’s great and all, but that part of the squad is undoubtedly weaker without Fernandez. If that is a consequence of this going to the very last day of the window, it has to be seen as a negative.Twomey: A big part of this legacy question will come down to what happens in the coming years. One perspective is that Fernandez is a winner. He has won a World Cup with Argentina and he helped make Chelsea Club World Cup champions. He’d lost patience with the project and wanted to be at a club that could match his ambitions.Another is that he is a talented but flawed player who didn’t drive as much winning as Chelsea hoped, especially in the Premier League, and ultimately he wasn’t a good leader of the project because he looked to leave at the earliest opportunity.Those varying perceptions will shift depending on how successful City are with Maresca and Fernandez, and on whether Chelsea can use this money and their other business to get back to the level that Chelsea fans expect. If they can, no one will mourn the loss of Fernandez, but if he helps City cement a new era of dominance, people will look at this deal and his time at Chelsea very differently.Enzo Fernandez celebrates after winning the 2025 Club World Cup (Buda Mendes/Getty Images)Johnson: When you look at his list of achievements, he was a prominent figure in the side that won the first two trophies, and so far the only two trophies, of the BlueCo era. To counter that, he’s only helped the team qualify for the Champions League once. There is no Premier League title challenge. While not laying all the blame for that at his door, it still needs to be seen in that light.Some Chelsea fans sympathised with his interview with ESPN Argentina in March, questioning the club’s direction, but he has been part of Chelsea not being as good as they should be, and it didn’t seem like he was taking much accountability for his own role. That raises question marks about the potential personality flaws that City will now inherit.Twomey: Well, he’s gone now. Chelsea are moving on, and so should we. Let’s pick up this conversation when Fernandez and Maresca host their former team at the Etihad Stadium in December.Johnson: Let’s do that. Until then, adios, Enzo.