Enzo Maresca on determination to sign Enzo Fernandez and Manchester City players' reaction

Enzo Maresca revealed Manchester City players were eagerly anticipating confirmation that Enzo Fernandez was joining, as he welcomes a 'winner' to the Manchester City locker room. The Blues dismissed any notion that they would pursue the Chelsea star at the start of the transfer window but secured a £125 million ($169.1 million) deal on its final day to cap a record summer of arrivals and departures.

Fernandez will become part of a revamped midfield at the Etihad, where upwards of £300 million ($405.5 million) has been invested in three players: Fernandez, Elliot Anderson and Ayyoub Bouaddi.

City passed up the chance to pay a marginally lower fee for Fernandez earlier in the window, but did succeed in negotiating Chelsea's £135 million ($182.5 million) asking price down in the closing hours as they ultimately delivered the club-record acquisition, as per the Manchester Evening News .

With Rodri and Bernardo Silva's summer exits anticipated, Maresca had been tracking Fernandez for some time - particularly given the player had made his willingness to leave Chelsea apparent. The two shared success together at Stamford Bridge and the manager needed no persuasion when questioned about the reasoning behind the signing.

"I know Enzo quite well. I know what he can bring to the team. He's a winner, has a winner's mentality. He knows how to win - World Cup, Club World Cup. The main thing is that, again, he's a winner," he said.

"He's a winner and when you belong to a squad and another winner arrives they are always happy. 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 want him to be with us. It's very important that he is with us and we are 100 percent happy with that."

Fernandez could make his debut as early as Saturday when they take on Frank Lampard's Coventry City at the Etihad; however, he will not feature amongst Maresca's captaincy group this season after the new boss opted to add Marc Guehi and Gianluigi Donnarumma to the leadership setup instead.

To listen to the latest episode of 'All Out Soccer' - CLICK HERE

Matheus Nunes is also anticipated to return to the squad following his absence from the trip to Crystal Palace, while Jeremy Doku remains on the sidelines.