The Japan Times - 'Winner' Fernandez fundamental to Maresca's Man City rebuild

Fernandez previously worked under Maresca at Stamford Bridge, where the pair won the Club World Cup and Conference League in their only full season together.

The 25-year-old was also a World Cup winner with Argentina in 2022, but endured a rollercoaster of emotions during his nation's defence of the tournament.

Fernandez scored two huge goals at the 2026 World Cup in comeback victories over Egypt and England, but was sent off in the final as Argentina lost 1-0 to Spain.

"He’s a winner and when you belong to a squad and another winner arrives they are always happy," said Maresca, who has stepped into the huge void left by Pep Guardiola as City boss.

"I can promise you that in the last four or five days, four or five players in the squad were asking if he was coming or not because they wanted him to be with us.

"It's very important that he is with us and we are 100 percent happy with that."

Maresca's new dawn at the Etihad has been backed by the biggest ever transfer spend by a single club in one window.

City splashed out close to £460 million in total with Elliot Anderson, Ayyoub Bouaddi and Iliman Ndiaye among their other big buys.

But they have also recouped around £300 million from the sales of Rodri, Savio, Tijjani Reijnders, Nico Gonzalez and James Trafford.

"I'm very, very happy for the effort from the ownership, very happy in the last days," said Maresca.

"Iliman and Enzo arrived and now the squad is complete, it's finished. Now it's time to work."

Maresca has made a positive start with back-to-back wins over Bournemouth and Crystal Palace to begin City's quest for a first Premier League title in three seasons.

The home fans will expect another three points on Saturday as newly-promoted Coventry visit the Etihad still without a point on their return to the top-flight for the first time in 25 years.

T.Sato--JT