Two-hundred million pounds worth of Chelsea midfielders sat down for an interview with Premier League productions this week, and the 22-year-old duo of Enzo Fernández and Moisés Caicedo make for some fascinating contrasts.
Both have made the jump from South America, from very humble and tough beginnings, to the riches and pressures European football an early age, and have already experienced great successes: Caicedo winning the U20 Copa Libertadores with Independiente del Valle (against Enzo’s River Plate); Enzo of course winning the 2022 World Cup with Argentina. And both want to experience more successes together at Chelsea.
But whereas Caicedo still seems a boy, shy and tentative and rather shallow in some of his responses that don’t diverge much from the usual cliches, Enzo’s already grown adult, father to two children, in a loving, long-term stable relationship with his partner, with a depth to his responses that belie his young age.
“We all want to win but I think football can teach you a lot about life within football, about your day-to-day life. Right now at Chelsea, we are not winning. The process is taking its time but we know it’s a learning process. We are very thankful being here at Chelsea, we are all giving it our all.”
“I think that prizes are a part of football and a part of life, because football gives as much as it takes, that’s why it’s good. [...] I think we are going to be one of the best teams in the Premier League. I don’t know when; not now, but I think that through hard work, we will do it, we will achieve it. [...] I’m obviously here to keep winning trophies at club level, which is the most important thing. And I hope we’ll win many titles at Chelsea”
-Enzo Fernández; source: NBC Sports
Caicedo, who reveals that Enzo played a key convincing role in him joining Chelsea this summer, is equally confident in our bold project fulfilling our ambitions ... eventually.
“It will take time and those who don’t believe in us will end up doing so. We are doing everything to take the club where it deserves to be and where it used be. [We] may not see it now, but [God] has something planned for the future.
“[Enzo said Chelsea] was a great club, that there are many young players, [that] there was a togetherness here. I have always enjoyed the bond in a team because I think that if there is that bond, we can deal with any situation [or pressure] we may face.”
-Moisés Caicedo; source: NBC Sports
Where there is a will, there is a way. Hopefully!
There’s much more from both in the interview, so if you haven’t seen it yet, click and watch!