Mauricio Pochettino believes it is unfair to compare the impact of Enzo Fernandez at Chelsea to that of Arsenal’s Declan Rice, as the teams prepare to face each other at the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday.

England international Rice joined Mikel Arteta’s side from West Ham last summer for £100million, less than the £107m it cost to take World Cup winner Fernandez from Benfica to Stamford Bridge in January 2023.

The fee for the Argentinian was a British record at the time, though the club have since surpassed it in signing fellow midfielder Moises Caicedo from Brighton for £115m.

Rice has won plaudits for his transformational effect on Arsenal’s midfield, helping to forge a sturdier, more cohesive side than the one that fell away in the final weeks of last season’s Premier League title race.

By contrast, Chelsea’s league position has not markedly improved in the 15 months since Fernandez arrived in west London, and despite clear flashes of his obvious talent and range of passing, question marks have remained over whether the club got value for money.

However, his countryman Pochettino called for perspective on the obstacles that his player has had to contend with since arriving in England.

“Declan Rice was playing for West Ham, an English guy who knows the Premier League, knows the language,” said the 52-year-old.

“For Enzo, after the World Cup to arrive here, in a team that was inconsistent, difficult to get positive results, always it was really difficult.

“In summer he was involved in too many games and he arrived late in pre-season, hasn’t had a holiday in the last two years.

“Too many negative things happened. (It was) difficult for him to adapt, his family. It’s not easy to adapt and perform so quick.”

Fernandez was responsible for creating Chelsea’s best chance of Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final defeat to Manchester City, hitting an incisive, raking pass from deep that sent Nicolas Jackson through on goal, but the striker could not finish.

He has scored three Premier League goals and made four assists since moving from Portugal in the immediate aftermath of Argentina’s 2022 World Cup triumph, but Pochettino insisted the best is yet to come from the 23-year-old.

“For sure he is going to be much better next season, after the experience of the whole season in this squad and this team,” he said.

“He’s more experienced, he gets better feelings. The whole season is good for him to learn. Even if he is a world champion, he needs to adapt to the Premier League and to this club. For me, there is no doubt that he is going to be much better.”

Pochettino said there have been no discussions over the future of striker Romelu Lukaku, currently on a season-long loan at Roma, but appeared to hint that the door could be open for a return.

The 30-year-old has scored 18 goals for the Serie A side this campaign after telling Chelsea last summer that he wanted to leave.

“He’s a Chelsea player, so for sure we will pay attention,” said Pochettino. “It’s an option. But still we did not take any decision.”

Chelsea spent more than £75million on agents’ and intermediaries’ fees this season, according to figures released by the Football Association.

The data, which covered the 12 months to February 1 and therefore this season’s two transfer windows, showed the total spend by top-flight clubs was £409.59m – an increase from £318.2m for the 2022-23 campaign.

The Blues head the list paying £75,140,524 – having brought in players like Moises Caicedo, Christopher Nkunku, Romeo Lavia, Nicolas Jackson and Cole Palmer over the period covered – which was almost £32m more than previously spent.

Despite the outlay Mauricio Pochettino’s expensively-assembled squad have endured an inconsistent Premier League campaign – and were branded “blue billion-pound bottle jobs” by Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville late on during their 1-0 extra-time defeat against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup final.

Elsewhere Manchester City – the biggest spenders in the previous list – ranked second on £60.63m.

Rivals Manchester United spent £34.05m, while Liverpool paid £31.50m in fees and Arsenal a total of £24.76m.

At the other end of the spending list, Luton – promoted to the Premier League via the play-offs in May last year – paid the least at £2.02m.

Chelsea’s total exceeded the overall spending on agents’ fees in the Sky Bet Championship of £61.34m – with Leeds top of the list at £13.28m as they push for a swift promotion.

Mauricio Pochettino admits midfield duo Enzo Fernandez and Moises Caicedo need to improve after Chelsea’s poor start to the Premier League campaign.

The Blues’ recent 2-1 defeat at Manchester United kept them in 10th place, five points behind West Ham in ninth.

And Pochettino believes big-money signings Fernandez and Caicedo need to up their levels but acknowledged the two 22-year-olds’ development is a “process”.

Speaking ahead of Chelsea’s Premier League clash with Everton on Sunday, he said: “The relationship between them needs to improve of course, between them and individually also.

“They are young, the expectation is massive when you arrive.

“Caicedo had one season in Brighton and Enzo after three months in Europe, he was in Benfica before arriving to the Premier League. Arriving not in the best place to perform quick because they need to be part of the solution.

“They are not the cherry of the cake. When you arrive in a team that is in a building process and you’re young with not too much experience, even if you have good quality and people can see the club paid big money and only for that you need to perform, it is not like this in football.

“Some people think in this way because they don’t know about football. It’s a process.

“It’s going to be a process for different reasons. Chelsea are in a completely different reality in the last years and we need to attack this. We can’t live only thinking in the past.

“We need to keep the culture and understand we are in Chelsea and always it’s about winning, but the reality is completely different.”

Sunday’s opponents Everton are on a high after Wednesday’s 3-0 victory over Newcastle at Goodison Park.

And Pochettino identified Everton’s physical presence from set-pieces and called for his Chelsea players to play more cleverly.

He added: “It can be a problem, yes. But we need to be more aggressive and try to avoid conceding chances like corners or wide free-kicks.

“We need to be clever in the way we are going to work and try to stop them.

“Yes, it can be a problem but maybe no. In football, it’s the way you approach the game, the attitude and then being clever, trying to avoid giving the possibility to the opponents to use their strengths.”

Pochettino highlighted the challenges of keeping his players motivated after their inconsistent start to the campaign.

He said: “When you win it is easy, you jump to train.

“But when you have ups and downs it is really difficult to keep your balance because to translate the capacity to a player to keep pushing and assimilate and to keep the good mood around the training ground is the most difficult thing.

“Because the frustration, disappointment, sometimes in the way we concede, you become upset, angry. “

Mauricio Pochettino admitted Moises Caicedo’s international commitments with Ecuador have complicated the midfielder’s early Chelsea career.

The club paid a British record £115million to sign the 22-year-old from Brighton in August but frequent trips to South America to play for his country have limited the time he has been able to spend working with coaching staff at Cobham.

He has played 14 times in all competitions since his arrival, recovering from a red card on his first appearance against West Ham to become a steady if not yet spectacular performer in the heart of midfield.

Since joining Chelsea he has been called up three times by Ecuador and played in six matches, with each international window requiring a more than 11,000-mile round trip, sometimes not arriving back in London until the early hours of the day before Chelsea’s next game.

He revealed in an interview with the club’s website this week that he spent much of his first 10 days in England alone in a hotel room in tears and suffering from homesickness, after joining the Seagulls from Independiente del Valle in his home country in January 2021 during the Covid pandemic.

Restrictions on movement for people arriving into the UK meant he was unable to meet his Brighton team-mates until completing a period of quarantine, during which he phoned his parents in Ecuador asking to return home.

He recovered to become one of the standout successes of the team that Roberto De Zerbi led to a club-best sixth-placed Premier League finish last campaign, sparking a bidding war between Liverpool and Chelsea in which Pochettino’s side were victorious.

The manager reiterated a call for patience as Caicedo navigates life at Chelsea amid a hectic World Cup qualifying schedule internationally.

“When we signed him we knew what is going to happen,” said Pochettino. “He’s an emotional guy, an emotional player that needs time to recover.

“It didn’t help also the international games, travelling to Ecuador, to South America. That is really tough every single month, two or three weeks then go 10, 12 days away, then come back sometimes with some injury.

“It’s not an excuse but it’s the reality. Now we need time. Of course I say (the team) always need to perform. That is our mentality. But in some situations like his, we need to give time and not to be unfair in the way that we assess him.”

Caicedo has formed a reliable partnership in midfield with Enzo Fernandez, who the club paid a then-British record £107m to sign from Benfica in January while Graham Potter was in charge.

Pochettino revealed that the Argentinian World Cup winner asked for extra time off during the summer due to fatigue and was granted permission to join up late with the squad on their United States tour.

“It’s different because Enzo arrived last January, he was with different coaches here,” said the manager. “He asked when we arrived for a period of holiday because he was tired after the World Cup and everything. He joined us in North Carolina.

“I cannot judge the past. Only I can talk from when we arrived (at Chelsea). We expect all, not only (these two), all the players, even the ones not too much involved, to push their level.”

Chelsea have agreed a deal worth a possible £115million to sign Moises Caicedo from Brighton, the PA news agency understands.

Brighton will receive £100m up front with a further £15m in add-ons as the long-running transfer saga appears finally to be coming to an end.

The deal is set to see Mauricio Pochettino’s side beat Liverpool, with whom they drew 1-1 on Sunday in their Premier League opener, to the signing of the 21-year-old Ecuador midfielder.

Liverpool have agreed a British record transfer fee in the region of £110million for Moises Caicedo as Jurgen Klopp attempts to reinforce his midfield on the eve of the new Premier League season. The PA news agency understands Liverpool have swooped in and had a substantial offer accepted for the 21-year-old Ecuador international, who was attracting significant interest from Chelsea this summer.

Brighton held firm on their valuation of a player who joined them for just £4m from Ecuadorian side Independiente del Valle in 2021, and it remains to be seen whether Chelsea will match Liverpool’s bid. The fee is upwards of the previous British record of £107m that Chelsea paid for Enzo Fernandez in January and dwarfs Liverpool’s own highest transfer payment of £75m for Virgil van Dijk in 2018.

Klopp has seen Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, Naby Keita and James Milner depart the club this summer but Liverpool have signed Caicedo’s former Brighton team-mate Alexis Mac Allister for £35m in June.

The Reds have also brought in Dominik Szoboszlai from RB Leipzig but, after missing out on Jude Bellingham – who joined Real Madrid in June in a deal that could rise to £115m with add-ons – Klopp is keen to get the Caicedo transfer over the line.

Ahead of Sunday’s trip to Chelsea for both sides’ Premier League opener, Klopp said: “I can confirm the deal with (Brighton) is agreed, whatever that means because we want the player and not any kind of agreement, we will see.

“We are club that doesn’t have endless resources, we didn’t expect a couple of things happening in the summer, like Henderson and Fabinho (leaving), stuff like this.

“We didn’t think about that before the summer, to be honest, and then it happened. We gave (attempting to sign Bellingham) a go and the club was really stretched. We will see (what happens with Caicedo).”

As for whether Caicedo will undergo a medical in Merseyside on Friday or if signing the youngster would be Liverpool’s final business of the summer window, Klopp was tight-lipped.

“I’ve said what I know,” he added. “Let’s do it step by step, let’s see what happens in the next hours or days.”

Liverpool have agreed a British record transfer fee in the region of £110million for Moises Caicedo as the Reds look to shore up their midfield on the eve of the new season.

The 21-year-old has been on Chelsea’s radar and the Blues – who will take on Liverpool in both sides’ Premier League opener on Sunday – were thought of as front-runners to sign the Ecuador international.

But Brighton have held firm in their valuation of a player who joined them for just £4m from Ecuadorian side Independiente del Valle two years ago and now the Reds are now poised to sweep in.

The PA news agency understands Liverpool, who are aiming to reinforce their options in the middle of the park following the departures of Jordan Henderson and Fabinho this summer, will pay upwards of the previous British record fee of £107m that Chelsea forked out for Enzo Fernandez in January.

The fee for Caicedo dwarfs Liverpool’s own transfer record of £75m, which they paid Southampton for defender Virgil van Dijk in January 2018.

Should Caicedo complete the move, he will be reunited with fellow midfielder Alexis Mac Allister, the Argentinian World Cup winner who left the Seagulls for Anfield in June.

Liverpool have also signed Dominik Szoboszlai from RB Leipzig this summer after the departures of Henderson and Fabinho to Saudi Arabian clubs Al-Ettifaq and Al-Ittihad respectively.

Liverpool have agreed a British record transfer fee of £110million for Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo, according to reports.

The 21-year-old Ecuador international has been a target for Chelsea all summer but Brighton have held firm in their valuation.

Now the Reds appear to have stepped in and hijacked the deal to complete their midfield rebuild following the departures of Jordan Henderson and Fabinho.

Should he complete the move, Caicedo will be reunited with Alexis Mac Allister, the Argentinian World Cup winner who left the Seagulls for Anfield in June.

The reported fee would eclipse the previous British record fee of £107m that Chelsea paid for Enzo Fernandez in January.

It would also represent another massive profit for Brighton, who signed Caicedo from Ecuadorian side Independiente del Valle for £4m in 2021.

What the papers say

Chelsea are hoping to finally secure the signature of Brighton star Moises Caicedo, the Guardian reports. The club are hoping to finalise the deal as soon as possible so he can be available to play in their opening match against Liverpool at Stamford Bridge on Sunday.

Manchester United are keen to sign Fiorentina midfielder Sofyan Amrabat, who the Daily Mail says is worth around £30million.

Dutch left-back Ian Maatsen is being chased by Burnley and now West Ham, according to the Daily Mail. The 21-year-old impressed in his pre-season fixtures for Chelsea with West Ham hoping to gain his services on a loan deal.

Italian champions Napoli are interested in Brighton’s 19-year-old forward Julio Enciso, the Telegraph reports.

Social media round-upPlayers to watch

Benjamin Pavard: Manchester United are hoping to bring the Bayern Munich defender to the club to reunite with former France international team-mate Raphael Varane, French news outlet L’Equipe says.

Max Aarons: The Athletic reports the Norwich City right-back was set for a move to Leeds United, but Bournemouth look set to move in on the deal.

What the papers say

Chelsea will make a second bid for Brighton midfielder Moises Caicedo, adding £10million and add-ons to their first offer of £70million, the Daily Mail said.

Liverpool’s quest for a younger midfield will come at a hefty cost with Crystal Palace valuing Cheick Doucoure at £70million, the Daily Mail reports. Liverpool have already added Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai to their midfield this summer.

The Guardian says Chelsea are also thinking of making a bid for Marc Guehi, who they sold to Crystal Palace two years ago. Chelsea are trying to fill the void in defence that will be left by Wesley Fofana who had surgery on a serious knee injury.

Newcastle are on the verge of selling Allan Saint-Maximin to Saudi Pro League club Al-Ahli for around £30million, as they look to bring in Leicester’s Harvey Barnes, according to the Telegraph.

Social media round-upPlayers to watch

Pedro: Tottenham are interested in signing the 26-year-old Brazilian striker who plays for Flamengo, the Independent said.

Ivan Fresneda: Bournemouth look likely to beat Barcelona, Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund to the signing of the 18-year-old Valladolid defender with a bid of £15million, according to Football Insider.

What the papers say

Brighton manager Roberto De Zerbi has admitted he expects key midfield duo Moises Caicedo, 21, and Alexis Mac Allister, 24, to leave the club this summer, the Metro reports. It comes despite the Seagulls’ 3-0 win at Arsenal on Sunday boosting their hopes of European football next season.

The same paper writes that Chelsea’s incoming manager Mauricio Pochettino is targeting four signings in his first summer in charge, including a “sensational swoop” for Tottenham striker Harry Kane. West Ham midfielder Declan Rice, Brighton’s Mac Allister and Aston Villa goalkeeper Emiliano Martinez are also reportedly on his wish list.

Elsewhere, the Sun reports Manchester United striker Wout Weghorst is planning to hold talks with Burnley manager Vincent Kompany once the 30-year-old striker’s loan spell ends. The Dutchman has failed to prove his goalscoring ability at the Red Devils since joining them on loan in January.

And Thiago Silva’s wife Belle has confirmed the defender intends to stay at Chelsea next season, the Evening Standard says. The 38-year-old was rumoured to be considering returning to Fluminense, the Brazilian club where he began his youth career as a 14-year-old.

Social media round-upPlayers to watch

Adrien Rabiot: French outlet L’Equipe reports Manchester United are back in the hunt for the 28-year-old midfielder as he approaches the end of his contract at Juventus.

Kylian Mbappe: Marca says Real Madrid remain interested in signing the 24-year-old striker from Paris St Germain.