Maresca's dream Rodri replacement is at Stamford Bridge

If Rodri leaves, Enzo Maresca knows who he wants. Gianluca Di Marzio reports that Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez is the City manager's preferred successor — a player Maresca knows intimately from his own spell at Stamford Bridge, and one who has hinted more than once that he would be open to leaving west London.

Chelsea's position is less accommodating. Fernandez is rated as a core asset and it is not clear the club would entertain negotiations at all. Last season they suspended him over public comments read as angling for an exit; he was widely believed to want Spain, but nobody has moved, largely because of a price tag reported at around £120m.

The football case is easy to make. The 25-year-old produced 10 goals and four assists in 36 Premier League appearances last season, created 11 big chances, and added three goals and two assists in a Champions League campaign that ended in the round of 16. He can operate as a ten, as a box-to-box eight or as a deep-lying playmaker.

The caveat is athletic rather than technical. Fernandez is not an explosive mover, which occasionally exposes him defensively in the Premier League's most chaotic phases — the exact part of the game Rodri made look effortless.

For Chelsea, under a project being rebuilt around Xabi Alonso, selling him would be self-harm. Which is why, for now, this is a manager's wish rather than a negotiation.