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Barcelona star had no intention of joining Chelsea on Deadline Day
Tom Weber
- Updated: 3 Sep 2025 04:13 CDT
- 3 min read
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Fermin Lopez has broken his silence on the interest he received from Chelsea during the summer.
The Blues attempted to pull off a late-window move for the young Barcelona midfielder after missing out on Xavi Simons to Tottenham, despite having agreed terms with the Dutchman.
Chelsea kept in touch with Fermin's representatives for several days to discuss a potential transfer to Stamford Bridge and to convince the player to join.
It was reported that the Blues would only make a formal bid for the Barcelona star if given encouragement from either the player or the club, so eyebrows were raised when an offer indeed materialised.
However, the $46 million Chelsea put on the table was nowhere near Barcelona's valuation of the 22-year-old. No agreement was reached, and Chelsea only ended up signing Facundo Buonanotte on loan rather than both him and Fermin as was initially planned.
Fermin is happy at Barcelona
Chelsea's belief that there could have been a deal to be done with Barcelona for Fermin likely stemmed from the fact that the Spain international has struggled to nail down a starting spot in Hansi Flick's stacked side.
Moreover, it was thought that Barcelona could be tempted to sell given their repeated struggles to register new signings, but securing his signature would have required an awful lot more than just $46m.
Speaking to Mundo Deportivo, Fermin has now broken his silence on the matter. “My priority has always been to be at Barcelona. I arrived when I was 12; it was my dream to be here, to be able to reach the first team," he began.
“It’s always a compliment when there’s interest from other clubs, but the truth is, I always had the idea of staying at Barca and being able to succeed here.”
Teammate Lamine Yamal has also spoken about Chelsea's interest in Fermin and echoed that the 22-year-old had no intention of heading to England. “He’s fine and happy as ever," Yamal said on international duty with Spain.
"At Barca, if anyone leaves, it’s their own decision. We’re a young, close-knit group with no problems between us, and we enjoy being at the club we’re at, so I don’t think anyone wants to leave.
"We jokingly asked him what was going on with England, but he told us he wanted to stay, that he was happy.”
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