Chelsea manager Graham Potter has admitted he does not yet know whether Enzo Fernandez will be able to make his debut against Fulham on Friday.
Fernandez arrived in England on Wednesday after joining from Benfica in a £106m deal on deadline day and Blues fans have been calling for Potter to put him straight into the starting line-up to help a midfield that is missing Mateo Kovacic, N’Golo Kante and Denis Zakaria due to injury.
However, in his pre-match press conference, Potter admitted that Fernandez is currently ineligible to play, but refused to rule out that situation changing soon.
“We’ll see,” Potter said of Fernandez’s possible involvement. “We have to go through the paperwork and get permits and stuff.
Potter admitted he was as clueless as everyone else on deadline day as Chelsea negotiated late into the night with Benfica and revealed he did not know if a deal would go through.
“I’m the head coach, so I don’t get too involved in the Deadline Day silliness,” he explained. “I’m focused on the next day of training and preparing the team for Fulham.
“I’ve been involved too long to know that there are some things you can’t control and there’s nothing I could do at that point to change things. I found out when it was done and I’m very glad because [ Fernandez ] is a fantastic player.
“My Spanish isn’t great and his English isn’t great, but we’ll get there. He’s an impressive young man and we look forward to working with him.”
