Emmanuel Fernandez is a player that numerous Championship clubs are looking at for the summer window. There is one major stumbling block with any deal for him to leave the Posh. More on that in this report.
Fernandez has taken a long route to earn the recognition he is now gaining after a very good season. Starting of with the Brentford youth side he has travelled a hard path to get to where he is today. Loans and contracts at Ramsgate and Margate including a stint at Sheppey looked to be his level. Having been farmed out by Peterborough United to Spalding and Barnet he came in for the 2023/24 season with a completely different attitude and desire. That first season he saw some action for his club bar a Championship one off - but it was this past season which he really made a name for himself.
He made three FA Cup appearances eventually seeing his team defeated at Everton in the third round. He also won honours defeating Birmingham City at Wembley in the EFL Trophy. They disposed of Wrexham too in the semi final. The second season on the trot the Posh have won that trophy. Fernandez was an ever present in that competition. He also bagged five goals for his club in league one and has sixty one appearances in total, mostly as a centre back with a goal return of seven.
Quite simply if he transfers his performances from league one to the Championship he would quickly become an established centre back. He also can play at right back. There are two stumbling blocks for the Swans if they do go in for Fernandez. (source east anglia) We can safely say he isn’t a target for the club at this moment in time. The reason being the price tag. The second issue is trying to do business with Barry Fry at Peterborough. He isn’t the best person to negotiate with, and yes for his club that’s fine but Fernandez does have a contract that runs until 2027.
Even though Norwich City had a bid accepted for Fernandez in January it didn’t transpire. Darragh MacAnthony, Peterborough majority owner commented, "It was a fabulous deal for us and the player which involved him coming back to us on loan for the rest of the season. Norwich are a very progressive club who buy lower league talent and develop them. I drove down to the training ground and spoke to him. I told him Norwich are one of the best clubs in the Championship and what a massive opportunity it was for him. Barry Fry told me we’d sold five players to them in the past and they’d all gone on to win promotions, but I believe Manny was nervous and that it was too soon for him.”
In January the Swans had quite a bit of dialogue with Fry over signing Hector Kyprianou, but found it very difficult despite offering what has been described as ‘good money’ to sign that player. Now he is heading towards leaving Peterborough as an out of contract player. And he too has a lot of admirers. The problem in signing players from Peterborough United is they source a lot of players especially from the London area and have been incredibly successful at doing that. They have made millions from many of their ‘punts’ over the years.
Ivan Toney is a classic example, selling him for around six million pounds and then getting a good sell on fee when Toney went to Al-Ahli SFC for around forty million pounds. Toney cost £350k when he signed for the Posh from Newcastle United. The Swans as we have stated have had no dialogue at all with Barry Fry over Fernandez, and as it stands they won’t. It’s early days but any thoughts of him signing isn’t even in the Swans radar. His price will run into millions. And the Swans have more achievable targets that will fit the bill we are told.