{"id":11895,"date":"2026-05-23T04:05:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T04:05:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=11895"},"modified":"2026-05-23T04:05:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T04:05:09","slug":"xabi-alonso-handed-joao-pedro-transfer-boost-but-coy-enzo-fernandez-chelsea-answer-given","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/?p=11895","title":{"rendered":"Xabi Alonso handed Joao Pedro transfer boost but coy Enzo Fernandez Chelsea answer given"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div id=\"article-body\">\n<h2 class=\"LeadText_lead-text__wd_PA __className_f16c80\" data-testid=\"leadtext\">Joao Pedro continues to be linked with a move away from Chelsea this summer with Barcelona interested in the 24-year-old versatile forward<\/h2>\n<p><button type=\"button\" class=\"SlideViewerButton_slide-viewer-button__BDJoG\" aria-label=\"Open image viewer\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\" aria-controls=\"image-lightbox\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"ImageEmbed_image-embed__0T8WX ImageEmbed_image-lead__Ti3qQ\" data-testid=\"leadimage\" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-articleid=\"33891167\">\n<div class=\"ImageEmbed_image-container__2AIQm\">\n<figure class=\"Figure_figure__Uce4f\" style=\"--figure-aspect-ratio:1.5\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Jo\u00e3o Pedro\" loading=\"eager\" sizes=\"(max-width: 508px) 508px, (max-width: 615px) 615px, 1200px\" src=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.football.london\/article33891167.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s1200f\/0_GettyImages-2274463318.jpg\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i2-prod.football.london\/article33891167.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s508\/0_GettyImages-2274463318.jpg 508w, https:\/\/i2-prod.football.london\/article33891167.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s615\/0_GettyImages-2274463318.jpg 615w, https:\/\/i2-prod.football.london\/article33891167.ece\/ALTERNATES\/s1200f\/0_GettyImages-2274463318.jpg 1200w\"\/><\/figure>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"ImageCaption_caption__j7HRu\" data-testid=\"image-caption\">\n<p aria-label=\"Joao Pedro has scored 20 goals for Chelsea in his debut season\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-title__ccyQU\" data-testid=\"caption-title\">Joao Pedro has scored 20 goals for Chelsea in his debut season<cite aria-label=\"Image: Chris Lee - Chelsea FC\" class=\"ImageCaption_caption-credit__wlx1W\" data-testid=\"caption-credit\">(Image: Chris Lee &#8211; Chelsea FC)<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<p><\/button><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Calum McFarlane insisted Joao Pedro is happy at Chelsea despite the forward being strongly linked with a move to Barcelona in the summer transfer window.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">The 24-year-old, who is the Blues &#8216; top scorer this season with 20 goals in all competitions, is unsurprisingly attracting interest from Europe&#8217;s big hitters. Barca are interested in Joao Pedro, sources say, and the recently-crowned La Liga champions are weighing up whether to make a move for the Brazilian after just one season at Stamford Bridge.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Reports in Spain have claimed the former Brighton attacker is intrigued by Barca&#8217;s interest, but McFarlane has claimed his top goal scorer seems more than content where he is at this moment in time.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\"><strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">FOLLOW OUR CHELSEA FB PAGE!<\/strong> <strong class=\"Strong_strong__e2x35\">Latest Blues news, analysis and much more via our dedicated Facebook page<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;Joao seems happy,&#8221; said the Chelsea interim head coach. &#8220;I think his performance levels have shown that he&#8217;s in a good place physically and mentally. Joao seems in a really good place.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Sources close to the club have insisted Chelsea will not be forced to sell their key players even though they have missed out on qualifying for the Champions League.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Enzo Fernandez continues to be linked with a move away from west London this summer after he flirted with Real Madrid during the March international break. McFarlane was less inclined to talk about speculation linking the Argentine with a summer switch, but emphasised his importance to the team.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">He said: &#8220;Enzo&#8217;s the vice-captain. So when Reece (James) isn&#8217;t available, Enzo has been captain all year. I think he&#8217;s had a brilliant season, scored some really important goals.<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">&#8220;Also, goals and assists contribution has been at a really, really high level. So yeah, he&#8217;s performed really well. We&#8217;re really pleased with Enzo and I hope it continues.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"Paragraph_paragraph-text__PVKlh \" data-tmdatatrack=\"content-unit\" data-tmdatatrack-type=\"paragraph\">Real Madrid and Manchester City have both been credited with an interest in Fernandez, who paused negotiations over a new contract with Chelsea earlier in the season after failing to agree on terms.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Joao Pedro continues to be linked with a move away from Chelsea this summer with&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pagelayer_contact_templates":[],"_pagelayer_content":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/playball.com.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}