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Chelsea’s extraordinary spending spree over the last two years has been well documented, with the Blues splashing out more than £1billion on new signings.
While some, like Cole Palmer and Noni Madueke, have proven to be shrewd additions, others have flopped and may force Chelsea to take big losses in the transfer market.
As things stand, Fernandez may fall into the latter category, with the Argentina World Cup winner losing his place in the team this season.
Signed for £105m, Fernandez became the most expensive signing in British football when he swapped Benfica for Chelsea in January 2023.
The 23-year-old has shown glimpses of his potential but has overall underwhelmed and currently finds himself behind Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia in Enzo Maresca’s pecking order.
Souness believes Fernandez is one of a number of Chelsea players who ‘won’t reach the level’ and says it is ‘very early’ to decide whether the club’s incredible transfer strategy has been a success.
Chelsea missed out on the top-four last season but look much-improved under new manager Maresca, currently sitting fourth in the Premier League and top of the Europa Conference League.
‘It’s still very early to pass any sort of judgement on Chelsea,’ Souness said on the Three Up Front podcast.
‘With their current group of players, they have a chance of finishing in the top four, but they’re still some way off winning the Premier League or Champions League.
‘From the current squad, I think there’ll be an enormous wastage of players and a lot of them will never live up to the levels that people think they will.
‘The most obvious one for me is someone who isn’t even in the team at the moment, Enzo Fernandez, on whom they spent £105million.
‘They’ve bought a load of players who won’t reach the level they would’ve hoped.’
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