When Argentina’s World Cup ambitions were again going towards national heartbreak, they desperately needed a savior.
Mexico proved a tough and an unbreakable resistance, repelling every pass or move Argentina threw at them.
Lionel Scaloni’s men flattered to deceive, lacking imagination in attack whilst also looking lost as a cohesive unit. It was the same story in their shock 2-1 defeat to Saudi Arabia ending their 35-unbeaten streak spanning three years. They looked uncomfortable for much of the game, still recovering and in total shock from the Saudi result.
It wasn’t until the footballing gods provided the Argentines with a pure World Cup moment, the solution to their incredibly drab and uncharacteristic footballing sins, more importantly they provided a player who could help calm the storm.
It wasn’t the great Lionel Messi, who bagged the all important first goal but it was one on his way to worldwide stardom, a player banked on to become one of the nation’s biggest footballing hopes in the future, that man was 21-year-old midfielder Enzo Fernandez.
When a player blessed with such grace and class as Lionel Messi heaps praise and admiration for you, you’ve certainly got to be a special player. And in Fernandez’ brief 33 minutes on the pitch against Mexico, the Benfica midfielder exerted just why he is one of the most exciting and complete midfield talents in Europe, in Argentina and arguably in world football.
Enzo’s strike in the 87th minute from a Messi assist was his first goal for his country in only his fifth international cap.
“I’m not surprised,” Messi said when asked about Fernandez post-match. “I see him every day, I train with him, I have even played against him in the Champions League,” added Messi about the youngster, who represents Portuguese side Benfica.
“Enzo deserves this goal. He is spectacular, and a very important player for us, like everyone in our group. I’m very happy for him and for us because he gave us peace of mind with that 2-0 [lead],” added Messi.
Indeed, the former River Plate is spectacular, and its such praise which will only heighten his ceiling and popularity amongst fans on the continent and in world football. Yet, it won’t be Messi’s comments alone which will provide him with the adulation, but his performances on the grandest stage.
In fact, amongst Argentina, many believe Enzo Fernandez should be a regular in the senior setup and the performance before he arrived on the scene against Mexico proved just why. Messi and co, for much of the game were too frenetic, laboured, lacked composure and cohesion and looked like a team well short of being World Cup contenders, especially considering the amount of quality in Scaloni’s midfield.
Guido Rodriguez, Alexis Mac Allister and Rodrigo de Paul all failed to provide Argentina with the spark, quality and creative imagination to breach Mexico’s stout low-block. In fact, Lionel Messi could hardly look his usual self playing alongside them, until Scaloni recognised his team desperately needed a midfield savior, an anchor and a player blessed with the art of control, composure and a decisive mindset in all of his actions.
Step forward Enzo.
The 21-year-old maestro was superb from the moment he entered the tense showpiece. Fernandez’ instantly provided the class, and assurance needed in possession. They already looked a settled side, confident and dominant the moment the Benfica man entered the fray. He successfully completed 22 of his 27 passes, won four out of his seven total duels, also successfully completing 100% of his dribbles. And within seven minutes of his introduction, Lionel Messi broke Mexico hearts with a superb drilled shot from outside the box.
But it was the second goal which stole Argentinian fan’s hearts, a sublime piece of skill and curler from Fernandez – assisted by Messi – which will now finally announce his class and quality on the world stage.
If you’re only now just hearing of the former River Plate wonderkid, you’ve sorely missed out. The San-Martin born midfielder has only been playing in Europe four months, and he’s already one of the most prestigious of his position on the continent, and that is down to the unique qualities he exerts in midfield. Some of it was made paramount against Mexico on Saturday night, but Argentinian fans will want more of it.
He was utilised as a no.6 in place of Guido Rodriguez against Mexico, but what will be pivotal for Argentina providing they go deep into the tournament is Fernandez’ wonderful versatility. Capable of playing in a deep-lying role, as well as a marauding box-to-box no.8 or even a creative and inventive central midfield role.
The 21-year-old also mixes excellent technical proficiency with tremendous levels of effort, endeavour and application + a highly intelligent tactical understanding to boot. He’s incredibly combative in his midfield duels, protects the space and his backline incredibly well, also a wonderful passer of the ball with excellent vision and high levels of accuracy, and is very purposeful in his midfield actions whilst also possessing the knack of dribbling into dangerous territory or out of it to devastating effect.
It’s no wonder why fans are baffled as to why he can’t get into Scaloni’s XI.
Have little doubt that De Paul should be dropped for Enzo Fernández immediately, and perhaps a chance to Mac Allister. Enzo's 35' cameo was proof of what he can bring to this Argentine team in the double-pivot, while De Paul still hasn't justified him starting in any way.
In his first spell in European football in just four months at Benfica, he’s already bossing the Champions League, playing against the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Lionel Messi in the group stage, and also a leading midfield man in the Portuguese top-flight.
The World Cup platform is made for searing future superstars like Enzo Fernandez, and it’s only right Scaloni changes tact and includes the 21-year-old in his plans starting against Poland on Wednesday. Potential elite suitors keeping tabs on Fernandez will be hoping Scaloni rewards him with opportunities too.
How Argentina should line-up against Poland on Wednesday:
Argentina has long produced some of the continent’s most established and decorated footballing stars in recent memory, and it’s no surprise to see the South American giants still producing some of the best young and exciting stars for the future.
The list of names of the talents they’ve produced over the past two decades alone really won’t be enough to fill this whole article and we wouldn’t be doing Argentina’s homegrown success without naming a few of their established superstars and the players making a real name for themselves right now; Lionel Messi, Angel Di Maria, Paulo Dybala, Nicolás Otamendi, Rodrigo De Paul, Leandro Paredes and the list goes on.
What about the some of the new emerging stars on the block? Lisandro Martinez, Cristian Romero, Thiago Almada, Alexis MacAllister, Julian Alvarez.
Though one player turning a whole lot of heads across the continent right now after his recent move from southern half of South America at River Plate and is currently being considered as one of the most coveted and exciting young midfielders to emerge from the country is Benfica’s Enzo Fernández.
The 21-year-old midfield dynamo has only been in Europe three months, and he’s already making a real splash both in the Portuguese Primeira Liga and the UEFA Champions League, and long may it continue because Enzo Fernandez is certainly on the right path to become one of the most complete midfield weapons of his generation.
So let’s get stuck into his profile and analysis.
Who is Enzo Fernández?
Born in San Martin, Argentina. Fernandez along with his five brothers started playing football at the age of six for their local side Club La Recova for most of his childhood years before joining the famous River Plate academy.
After 13 successful years progressing through the ranks in the youth setup, he was deservedly promoted to the first team by manager Marcelo Gallardo in January 2019 in what was a 3-1 home defeat to Patronato in the Argentinian Primera División, in which Fernandez remained on the bench.
He eventually made his maiden start for the decorated outfit in March 2020, before the Covid-19 pandemic, replacing Santiago Sosa in the 75th minute of a 3–0 loss to L.D.U. Quito in the Copa Libertadores.
After being used sporadically in the River Plate first team, Fernandez was advised to leave the club on loan ahead of the 2020/21 campaign, in order to continue his development. In August 2020, Defensa y Justicia came calling and he was loaned to the Argentinian club for that season. He was given his debut for the club in 3-0 win over Delfín in the Copa Libertadores by footballing legend and manager Hernan Crespo.
Despite not featuring regularly for the club, his performances impressed Crespo which ultimately earned him a place in the team, aiding the club in their triumphant pursuit of the 2020 Copa Sudamericana, starting the 3-0 win over Argentinian side Lanús in the final, winning his first major trophy as a professional. He went on to feature 33 times for Defensa y Justicia, scoring once upon returning to his parent club, at the request of manager Marcelo Gallardo, in the middle of the season in July 2021.
Afterwards, he was immediately thrust into the River Plate limelight, featuring in the first leg of Copa Libertadores round-of-16, a 1–1 home draw to fellow Argentinian side Argentinos Juniors. Soon after, he notched his first goal for River Plate in August 2021, scoring once and assist one in a 2-0 win over rivals Vélez Sarsfield in the Primera División.
Fernandez’ swift impression in the first team picture meant he immediately became a guaranteed starter for Marcelo Gallardo’s side and agreed to a new contract extension till 2025. Following an encouraging start to 2022 season in which he recorded an impressive eight goals and six assists in 19 appearances, he was named the best active footballer in Argentina, which only heightened the amount of European scouts taking a note of his qualities.
A few months later, and a dream move to a European outfit was immediately on the horizon as River Plate reached an agreement with Primeira Liga team Benfica for his €10m transfer, a deal which has swiftly turned out to be an absolute bargain for the Portuguese giants.
The 21-year-old remained at River Plate for the remainder of their Copa Libertadores campaign, but following their exit from the competition, he was free to join up with his new teammates and Benfica confirmed the move in mid-July, being handed the famous number 13 shirt, which has been worn by club legend Eusebio.
Official, confirmed. Benfica have signed Enzo Fernández from River Plate on permanent deal – €10m fee plus €8m add-ons. 🚨🇦🇷 #transfers
Since then, the rest has become history. He is now a fully fledged member of the Argentinian senior national squad contingent and is certainly on course to feature alongside the likes of Lionel Messi and Paulo Dybala at the winter World Cup in Qatar having been rewarded with his first call-up by boss Lionel Scaloni senior cap in a 3-0 win over Honduras during the September internationals.
How good is Enzo Fernández?
In the matter of just a few months, the Argentinian maestro has quickly become one of Europe’s most highly coveted complete midfielders.
Capable of playing in a variety of roles across the midfield either at no.8 (as he was deployed regularly for River Plate), no.6, no.4 and even as a creative and influential no.10, the 21-year-old mixes excellent technical proficiency with tremendous levels of effort, endeavour and application + a highly intelligent tactical understanding to boot.
If you ever need a midfielder capable of performing just about every midfield duty to the best of his ability then Enzo Fernandez is certainly your man.
With every passing Primeira Liga performance, it is quite staggering – and no disrespect to Benfica – that the Portuguese giants was his next destination after River Plate, especially after former teammate and Argentinian counterpart Julian Alvarez moved to Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City a few months earlier.
Though, in this instance, several team’s loss is one team’s absolute pleasure and Benfica are currently reaping the benefits of acting swiftly and efficiently to secure Fernandez’s signature ahead of everyone else.
The £18m-rated midfield dynamo is your perfect archetypal midfield player. He is very combative in his midfield duels, protects the space and his backline incredibly well, a wonderful passer of the ball with excellent vision and high levels of accuracy, is very purposeful in his midfield actions and can dribble into dangerous territory or out of it to devastating effect.
During his breakthrough period at River, Fernández was usually deployed as a deep-lying midfielder, responsible for breaking up play, dictating the tempo and recycling possession. Typically averaging an 85% pass completion rate for the Argentinian giants, Fernández looked after the ball incredible well, always looking to show for the ball and make himself available to receive a pass. More uniquely, he thrives in receiving the ball in tight spaces and is very press resistant due to his wonderful low sense of gravity, balance and flexibility in his body movements.
He may not be the tallest or mightiest looking players, but that means little when he consummately carries the recurring Argentinian trait in being bullish, aggressive and exerting much flair when needed.
His bravery to assume responsibility for his team is demonstrated by the fact that no player in the Argentinian league registered more passes (1274) or received the ball more (52.72 per 90). Fernández possesses excellent vision and has proven his ability to progress the ball effectively, averaging 11.9 progressive passes per 90, whilst also topping the metrics for through passes (64), smart passes (43) and passes to the final third (295) last season.
Towards the end, Fernandez was regularly deployed at no.8 by Marcelo Gallardo, and as time progressed, his efficiency, influence and performance levels grew and grew.
In such a role, the 21-year-old was tasked, at the right-hand-side of a three man midfield (as shown in the below heatmap) to be the side’s main creative hub, but not deterring from his defensive responsibilities coming back towards his own goal, or winning the ball high up the pitch.
Enzo Fernandez’ heatmap at River Plate (2022)
He ended the 2021 season with three assists and two goals, but his all-round numbers made for more immaculate reading, averaging 67.3 touches per game, 1.5 key passes, creating five big chances in the attacking sense but also excelling defensively, registering 0.8 interceptions per game, 1.7 tackles and winning 52% of his total duels. He is proficient and an excellent all-round midfield player.
What made Fernández stand out from the rest was his excellent range of passing. He excels at quick short passes, passing to break lines or to play through attackers running to space, but also passing in the means of keeping possession to move around and tire opposition shapes.
As stated previously Fernández is also an adept long-range passer, and he has carried that trait forward with Benfica, as shown in the clip below, picking up possession and expertly spreading the play into space for the full-back.
He’s also so far at the time of writing averaged the most accurate passes per 90 (100.4) of any player in the Portuguese top flight, and the most accurate long-balls (11.1) showing that he is the perfect component in Roger Schmidt’s possession-heavy system. More crucially, he’s created the joint-most (7) big chances also, again highlighting his all-round completeness in midfield.
The luxury Benfica have when utilising the Argentinian is whatever midfield role Roger Schmidt places him in, he’ll perform them perfectly. His career so far at the decorated club could not have got off to the perfect and ideal start.
It’s his first few months playing top level European football, and already the 21-year-old is outshining his peers, both domestically and in the UEFA Champions League too.
His most notable performance came against Italian giants Juventus, excelling in a deep midfield role where he brilliant broke-up attacking play as well as distributing the ball to great effect as Benfica famously triumphed 2-1 in Turin in mid-September. He was rewarded with a terrific average SofaScore rating of 7.7 for his performance, successfully completing 68 of his 71 passes, three of his four long balls, completing all three of his dribble attempts, whilst also winning 11 of his 16 ground duels providing a perfect picture as to the kind of all-round talents and endeavour he provides especially on the big occasions.
And there is evidence to show that the higher the level of football he is playing, the higher his own personal influence and performance. Looking at the heatmap below for Benfica so far, it shows he is involved in all phases of player for Roger Schmidt’s side who are currently unbeaten in all competitions at the time of writing.
Fernandez’ heatmap for Benfica so far 2022/23
So far for Benfica, his numbers make for superb reading. In eight games, he averages 2.4 shots per game, 109 touches, created seven big chances, averages 1.8 key passes whilst also again being destructively effective off the ball, he’s averaging 1.1 interceptions, 1.9 tackles, and 0.7 possession won. Fernandez is a terrific reader of possession, always looking to get into the right positions to stop of opposition attacks, disrupting moves, whilst also being in the right place at the right time to intercept passes.
Feisty, mobile and energetic, Fernández is not afraid to put himself about. As per the stats from last season in the Argentinian division, he averaged 7.56 recoveries per 90 and is more than comfortable pressing the opposition in their own half, and making 2.18 recoveries in the final third.
For all his good work in deep-lying roles, 2022 has seen Fernández develop into a truly all-round midfielder, adding goals and assists to the less-heralded elements of his game.
He’s only got the one league goal to his name for Benfica so far, and it was a rasping one at that, scoring an unerring strike in the 4-0 victory over Arouca in August, showcasing the composure to strike the ball the first time and hit the target.
In another spellbinding showing for Benfica against Rio Ave on October 8, the 21-year-old picked up a supreme SofaScore average performance rating of 9.0 after providing an assist, creating three big chances, 7 key passes and completing all of his 72 passes in Benfica’s 4-2 triumph.
Enzo Fernandez’s half by numbers vs. Rio Ave:
100% pass accuracy 77 touches 7 key passes 7/7 long balls completed 3 big chances created 1 assist
Yet another stunning showing for the Argentinian maestro, who’s short career at Benfica so far is already proving one of the best career decisions Fernández may ever make.
Forecasting Enzo Fernández’ Future
Argentina are certainly a footballing country blessed with a whole host of hot and incredibly gifted footballing talents across the continent, and the latest emergence of a certain Enzo Fernández arguably looks to be the best of the lot, no doubt about it.
While there is the argument that many of Europe’s elite clubs should have secured his signature ahead of Benfica, it seems as though the 21-year-old made the correct and more mature decision to join a club as dedicated to its young players and very progressive in its footballing approach, and it is an entity which will provide Enzo Fernández with the ideal platform to further his game and development.
There is no doubt, Fernández will certainly cost an elite European club in the around the £50-60million mark, or even more with Benfica recouping a sizeable profit for his services. The 21-year-old is on his way to becoming the most complete midfielder of his generation.
Very soon, he’ll be the apple of many top club’s eye, it was the case for previous homegrown talents in Darwin Nunez, Joao Felix and Angel Di Maria but for now, Fernández game already seems to be taking that next level in the Primeira Liga, and long may it continue for a while yet, Benfica will be hoping and praying that is the case.
A consistent role at the World Cup this November for the tournament favourites Argentina may provide him with the perfect exposure he needs, and that may well be to Benfica’s detriment.
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