Not for the first time, Hernan Crespo is smiling broadly and Enzo Fernandez is central to why.
‘He made me happy in December so, so much with [winning] the World Cup,’ Argentinian Crespo said.
‘Now it is a second happiness he has given me in a short time because he joined Chelsea. I’m very happy, very proud for him because he is a very, very good guy.’
Crespo is invested in the progress of Chelsea’s £105m January signing Fernandez, 22, so things could hardly have worked out much better than his countryman joining his former club.
His fondness for Chelsea almost 15 years after he left remains evident in how he refers to them as ‘us’, ‘our Blues’ and ‘the pride of London.’
Doha-based Crespo’s face lights up when told this Zoom interview is taking place while Sportsmail are sat in the car park at Chelsea’s Cobham training ground.
He also goes back to his Chelsea days when describing what sort of player they have got for their British record fee.
‘He [Fernandez] is [Claude] Makalele plus [Frank] Lampard,’ Crespo begins. ‘If you need him in the Makalele position he can play very well.
‘This guy can also smell the goal, good shot from outside the box so if you need him behind the striker, Lampard or [Michael] Essien, he can do it.
‘As a manager, having a player that can play in lots of positions, it’s really important in football today. He can do everything as a midfielder. He can be one of the best midfielders in history.’
The third reason Crespo has kept such a keen eye on Fernandez’s rise is because he did once manage him.
One of the great strikers of his generation, Crespo joked that in the same way he had the nose for a goal he pounced to sign Fernandez in August 2020.
‘I smell the opportunity and say to my governors “we need this guy,” he laughed.
Crespo was in charge of Defensa y Justicia and aware of the prospect coming through at his former club River Plate.
Defensa y Justicia needed a midfielder and Crespo could see the first-team football then reserve-teamer Fernandez required was not available at River at the time so moved in.
Fernandez emerged as a key player as Crespo’s side lifted the 2020 Copa Sudamericana, an achievement the latter likened to Bournemouth winning the Europa League.
‘It eventually became impossible for him to come out of the team. He took the team in his hand and we won the trophy,’ Crespo said.
Crespo will forever remember Fernandez choosing to play through pain in a quarter-final first-leg at Brazilian’s Bahia when he was prepared to save him for the second leg.
Fernandez ended up scoring the winner in a 3-2 victory. ‘After that he never came out of the first 11,’ Crespo said.
Then there was the final, a 3-0 win against fellow Argentinians Lanus which secured Defensa y Justicia’s first ever major trophy.
‘If you have a chance, please, watch this final,’ Crespo implored. ‘Just watch Enzo Fernandez at the beginning of his career. Amazing.
‘He played two years before, like he has just played in the World Cup final. Understanding when he must play one touch, two touch.
‘At 20, with personality but always without arrogance. “Be calm, give me the ball”.
‘Always aggressive, good attitude. It is not normal to find this kind of player this young with this personality.’
Nor one who has risen like Fernandez has.
‘Nothing he reached has surprised me really,’ Crespo said. ‘The only thing that has is that it is [happening] so fast.
‘It’s not normal to find a player that can change from Defensa y Justicia to River Plate and adapt quickly.
‘From River Plate to Benfica, play Champions League, in Europe this easy.
‘Join the national team, get a shirt in the first eleven, score goals, play very well.
‘It’s not normal now after the World Cup that you join Chelsea.
‘This guy is special and can become a great player but everybody must help him to adapt quickly. ‘Don’t forget he is a young person. It’s not easy.’
Crespo described how Fernandez ‘came as a promise and goes out of my hands as a player’ following his season at Defensa y Justicia though credits the youngster for that improvement, saying he deserves everything he gets ‘for his ambition and professionalism.’
Crespo modestly insisted he played a ‘less than one per cent’ part in Fernandez’s journey and considers himself fortunate to have crossed paths with Chelsea’s new No.5.
Their Copa Sudamericana triumph was the first of Crespo’s two trophies as a manager.
He is on course for more silverware in a third different country with current Qatar Stars League leaders Al-Duhail.
Eventually Crespo hopes to manage in Europe, describing the Premier League as ‘a goal’.
‘I try to build my career brick by brick, step by step,’ explained multi-lingual Crespo who speaks Spanish, Italian, Portuguese and English.
The last was helped by his time at Chelsea and has been further improved in Qatar where English is widely spoken, the move to the Middle East also broadening Crespo’s horizons culturally.
He continued: ‘I don’t want a job only because I have contacts or because of my past. I want to deserve it. I am waiting, calm. I think the opportunity to move to Europe is coming. No problem.’
Which might one day see him reunited with Fernandez.
‘I know he must live with pressure after the biggest transfer in [British] history but be happy,’ Crespo advised.
‘Be happy that you reached the most important league in the world. It’s the highest level you can reach.
‘Don’t think about money, don’t think about nothing. Be proud to be part of the pride of London and that’s it. Really I want to have a time to go there, come back to Stamford Bridge and see him live.’
SOURCE: dailymail.co.uk
