Barca latest, and Enzo Fernandez Demands Chelsea Exit for Real Madrid Transfer

Hinzugefügt: 2026-05-31

[00:00:00]team they will be competing with is, of course, the might of Barcelona. I have no enemies. You might be making one in a moment. It says, "How can Barcelona afford Gordon and Alvarez? Maybe Premier League clubs should learn their place.

[00:00:11]About time, innit?" And they wrote "innit" as well.

[00:00:14]Well, let's get into it because transfer guru, brilliant reporter for talkSPORT, just been breaking news left, right, and center in recent days. He is on fire.

[00:00:22]Ben Jacobs joins the show right now.

[00:00:24]Ben, how are you doing, brother?

[00:00:26]>> Good afternoon. It's getting busy, isn't it?

[00:00:29]>> It's not It's not like there's anything happening in, I don't know, like 14 days time or anything, right?

[00:00:34]>> [laughter] >> I mean, somehow I'm going to have to go West Coast, US men's national team, and transfer window all at the same time.

[00:00:42]But, that's the thrill of the job.

[00:00:43]>> Hardest working man in sport. I tell you that for nothing.

[00:00:45]>> 100%. 100%.

[00:00:46]>> Ben, just tell us, right? We've been speculating and discussing these Barcelona transfers over recent days.

[00:00:51]Where is Anthony Gordon going to land?

[00:00:53]Now, Julian Alvarez apparently in the mix as well. What no one quite understands, and and tell us what you're hearing, but also, how on earth are Barcelona doing this when we were told there was going to be no money for the foreseeable for them?

[00:01:05]>> Yeah, I think the issue is La Liga's stringent financial rules, and it's satisfying the domestic position rather than necessarily financial fair play.

[00:01:15]But, if you think about Barcelona, they're the La Liga champions, they've got Champions League money, and maybe most importantly, they're allowed to do by La Liga a kind of one out, one in.

[00:01:28]So, by freeing up Robert Lewandowski's wage in particular, that allows Barcelona to move more aggressively in the market because if you're calling the out Lewandowski and the in Anthony Gordon, the wage of Gordon is significantly lower than Lewandowski, and therefore, Barcelona on their annual books, as La Liga look at their projections, are actually saving money.

[00:01:51]Add to the mix that Gordon is going to sign a 5-year deal, so the transfer fee is amortized or divided by five, and that makes it a little bit more palatable as well. And then, if they go and move for Julian Alvarez, that's where more financial gymnastics will be required because whereas Gordon is actually relatively strong value for money over five years and less than Robert Lewandowski, to bring in Julian Alvarez at some point, Barcelona may need a significant outgoing because Atletico Madrid are looking for a fee at least surpassing the 120 million euros that Barcelona paid Atleti for Antoine Griezmann in 2019. So, it actually makes sense to me that they can bring in Gordon. And if this was a Premier League club, we'd be saying they won the league, they got Champions League football, of course they've got money to spend, but it's Barcelona, and they have had financial problems in the past, and Javier Tebas in La Liga are not as easy to deal with in terms of the financial rules compared to the Premier League.

[00:02:54]So, Gordon's fine. Let's see whether Alvarez gets over the line. That presents more of a challenge. And of course, you have Marcus Rashford to some extent in limbo, but sources say they're still trying to sign him in addition to Anthony Gordon as well. So, as you said in your question, Barcelona come not even the end of the window, but before it even formally opens, might be in a position where they've spent somewhere close to 250 million euros.

[00:03:22]>> We went no left wingers to three left wingers, all in one go, like [laughter] wild. So, take me through the mental or financial gymnastics that Barcelona have to go through to get Julian Alvarez over the line if in fact everything goes through with the Anthony Gordon transfer move.

[00:03:39]Who do you think could be on the way out in this one-for-one rule that La Liga has, and and how would they be able to finance it?

[00:03:47]>> Yeah, I think Barcelona have always maintained that Balde or De Jong are players that they want to keep. We'll have to wait and see whether that's the case, particularly with Balde. You've got Raphinha and Saudi interest. It would be a significant surprise if they sanctioned a sale right now, simply because he's been outstanding and I don't think that Barcelona have got an appetite to do that deal, but Saudi are prepared to try. And then Barcelona's main perspective in all of this is, yeah, they could bring in a fee and that's the same for any Premier League club, because remember the fee from a singular player, even if modest, is declared on your annual books, whereas what you're spending on a player is divided, if you so choose to, by the length of the contract and that is amortization. So, 70 million in, hypothetically, because that's the same fee as Gordon and you get through a short-term financial problem on that annual books, whereas your amortization is 70 to divided by five, so it's a lot smaller as far as your annual accounts.

[00:04:54]So, that's the kind of commonplace thing now that Chelsea, of course, made famous or put in the media, even though plenty of clubs have done it in the past and the only difference was Chelsea had found a loophole and they divided by longer than five, whereas now UEFA have capped it at a maximum of five, even if you give somebody a six or a seven-year contract. And then I think from Barcelona's perspective, they would point to the fact that even without an outgoing, you've got a scenario where their wage bill is coming down. So, a lot of these contracts that Barca are handing out now have either an incentive-driven structure or they have a decrease in wage if Barcelona were not to get Champions League football. And on top of that, there's a real desire within the club to be creative with existing players, whether or not they offer new deals or alternatively, it could be a new signing and Barca have in the past got around the financial rules by lowering their wage bill in the short term and deferring some of the wages or bonuses. And if players really want to join Barcelona, sometimes they're prepared to make those concessions. So, Joan Laporta is quite confident that he can spend at this magnitude and Barca sources argue pretty clearly that they're not in the same dire financial position as maybe they were two summers ago.

[00:06:15]>> So, I'm over here. I got the calculator.

[00:06:17]I'm over here trying to I'm crunching [laughter] all these numbers you're talking about and you know, I carry the two, add the one. I'm I'm I'm crunching all these numbers and is there room for a defender? We're talking about three attackers right now and a team that's played a high line and obviously the defensive issues and adding depth defensively, would there be enough room or money to to bolster defensively their back line?

[00:06:38]>> Yeah, I think they're looking at certain center back options and this has been quite long standing. We know Micky van de Ven for example is one player that Barcelona appreciate. They've taken a look at the Ibrahima Konate situation as well. The time we're live, that hangs in the balance but I think we'll get clarity soon as to whether he's staying or going at Liverpool. And from Barca's perspective, they will potentially feel if their main outlay is on attacking reinforcements and if their absolute priority is to replace the goals from the departing Robert Lewandowski, then as they move further back in the field, yes, they'll want to make reinforcements but they won't be with the same sort of budget and they won't necessarily be the same kind of marquee names or if they are marquee names such as a Konate, they'll basically be free transfers. So, I think they'll be more opportunistic and economical the further back the field they go whereas all efforts and all money at the moment are being put on attack and as you say, it could effectively be three wingers or versatile forwards all coming in.

[00:07:47]Gordon's already in Barcelona. He will sign a five-year deal subject to a medical. Rashford is waiting to see whether Barcelona and Man United can come to an agreement. And Barca's starting point is not to pay the 30 million euros option to buy, which is valid until the 15th of June. And instead see whether Manchester United would be prepared to do another season-long loan. So, that will again be financial gymnastics. It would defer all the payments by a year, likely with an obligation or a conditional obligation to buy at the end of it. Otherwise, I doubt Manchester United be willing to do business. And yet, Man United don't want to do Barca any favors, so they're just saying pay the 30 million euros or there's no deal there. And then keep an eye on the Julian Alvarez situation because Barcelona feel that Atletico Madrid's asking price of over 120 million euros and as high as 150 million could potentially come down and they might try and get creative with that deal. At the moment, they've not offered any players, so it's going to be a straight cash deal. But, the first formal bid for Julian Alvarez is expected before the World Cup starts.

[00:08:54]>> Crazy. Crazy. And you'll feel for Marcus Rashford a little bit there.

[00:08:57]15th of June, suddenly you're going to the World Cup without knowing what your future is. Such a mess for the players in that situation. There are two more stories just wanted to pick your brains on, Ben. One of them was the Enzo Enzo Fernandez situation at Chelsea cuz he wants out apparently. I thought he's I thought in the pivot in that in that Xabi Alonso system, he'd actually be a perfect fit and maybe Xabi Alonso could convince him to stay, but sounds like he wants out and he wants European football. I just I got to be honest, Ben. I don't see, based on his form this season, who's going to pay 120 million pounds for him.

[00:09:29]>> Yeah, it's a high asking price and I think that's indicative of the fact that Chelsea would prefer to keep Enzo Fernandez, but he's not quite in that category of Joao Pedro or Cole Palmer where offers would automatically be rejected because it's not about the money. Chelsea quite simply see those two as untouchable. Enzo Fernandez and Chelsea could get on the same page under Xabi Alonso and if they do, things could move to the other extreme and the contract talks could continue, but there's been no breakthrough at the moment and the reason why is because Enzo Fernandez wants to leave and Chelsea at the moment acknowledging the player's position would engage, but the offer would have to be at 120 million.

[00:10:11]So, not just getting their money back, not just satisfying what's known as the book loss. In other words, how much is left on the transfer, which is roughly 70 million. Chelsea want 120 million, so more than the 106 million pounds that they paid Benfica when Enzo Fernandez joined after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar and that will send a message to the market that this is no pushover deal.

[00:10:39]This is no desperation on Chelsea's part to sell, but if the right offer comes and it will have to be high, Chelsea would sanction an exit. And then you think, who could pay that kind of fee?

[00:10:49]Probably only three clubs. One would be Manchester City, but they're entirely focused on Elliot Anderson. They did hold some formative conversations with the camp of Enzo Fernandez, but nothing really has developed and Elliot Anderson and Manchester City is the deal that is advancing at the moment. Paris Saint-Germain, but I'm told they're looking for a different kind of midfielder, maybe more of a rigid number six and Enzo Fernandez has gone from a six at Benfica to a number eight and then a number 10. And the fact he's played more advanced at Chelsea might put PSG off because they've got a lot of options and they're actually trying to sign Yandy Amande in competition with Liverpool over on that right-hand side.

[00:11:33]And then Real Madrid, and Real is the one that Enzo Fernández wants. Real is the club that Enzo Fernández has been flirting with. But again, we have to wait for José Mourinho to come in. And are Real going to go for a more versatile box-to-box all-energy midfielder? And then it could develop with Enzo Fernández. Or are they going to again look for that more defined six, in which case Rodri could be the name that Real Madrid go for? And then suddenly, Enzo Fernández doesn't actually have any concrete options.

[00:12:01]>> We know that our next guest is ready to go. Cuz we just [laughter] saw at the top of the screen, Steve Nicol has entered the waiting room.

[00:12:06]Uh so, we'll be with you in a moment, I promise, Liverpool legend. You going to ask about Andriy Yarmolenko?

[00:12:10]>> I I am.

[00:12:11]>> There we go. Yeah, cool.

[00:12:11]>> We going from the player transfers to the managerial job still available. And obviously, the biggest job still open and vacant is AC Milan. What's the latest there? Is Areola still an option there? I'm hearing hearing rumors about Pochettino potentially. I thought they were supposed to be focusing on the US men's national team. What's going on with AC Milan right now? Give Give me the latest on on where where do you think they go?

[00:12:32]>> Yeah, Andriy Yarmolenko has held some face-to-face talks with Milan. At the time we're live, it's not progressing.

[00:12:38]And as a consequence, Milan are starting to look at other options. Areola had always wanted to stay in the Premier League. His only viable option at the moment is Crystal Palace. They're pushing. They've got Europa League football. That's not developing yet. But I think part of the reason why is Areola wanted to end the season, finish with Bournemouth on a high, and then from there see whether or not certain offers came before taking his time, knowing that he's a man in demand. So, Palace are waiting for an answer. Milan feel that Areola won't join at the moment, even though Zlatan Ibrahimović was trying to get that one over the line.

[00:13:16]Could that open the door to Mauricio Pochettino? Potentially. But as you say, he's focused on the World Cup for now.

[00:13:23]And it's not the easiest time to be speaking to Pochettino when he's preparing for the warm-up game against Senegal and then they'll be off to the camp via a game against Germany in Chicago. So, I think if it is to be Pochettino and Milan, then Milan would have to be patient. With Iraola, he has Leverkusen as another club that have made an approach too. So, still no decision from Andoni Iraola, but I think we won't have to wait too much longer before we understand his next destination because sources that I speak to say that the former Bournemouth boss would like clarity as to where he's going before the month is out in an ideal world or certainly by at the latest the first week in June.

[00:14:06]>> Brilliant stuff, Ben. Thank you so much for your time, as always. Wonderful stuff, Ben Jacobs, joining the show. Uh we've got Liverpool legend Steve Nicol joining us up next. We already know he's in the waiting room, so let's not waste any time. This is the S Word back with some Liverpool chat next.

[00:14:19]>> Around here, we only use the F words.

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