Chelsea have
agreed a British record 121m euro (£107m) deal for Benfica's Argentina
midfielder Enzo Fernandez.
The deal
eclipses the £100m Manchester City paid for Jack Grealish in 2021.
Benfica said in
a statement it had "reached an agreement with Chelsea FC for the sale of
all the rights of the player Enzo Fernandez".
Fernandez, who
only joined Benfica for a reported £10m in August, was named young player of
the tournament during Argentina's World Cup triumph in Qatar.
BOOST YOUR SEXUAL PERFORMANCE WITH AIZEN POWER DIETARY SUPPLEMENTS
The 22-year-old's arrival takes Chelsea's January spending to £288m, according to transfer website Transfermarkt.
That follows an
outlay of around £270m in the summer - a record for a British club in the
summer window - taking their total spend under new American owner Todd
Boehly to more than £550m on 17 new players.
The Fernandez
signing is the joint-sixth most expensive of all-time, equalling the 120m euros
Barcelona paid for France forward Antoine Griezmann in 2019.
Fernandez,
signed by Benfica from Argentine side River Plate, has scored four goals in 29
appearances for the Primeira Liga side.
He scored once
during the World Cup, netting Argentina's second goal in their 2-0 group-stage
win over Mexico.
'Crucial to
Argentina's World Cup win' - analysis
"The
spending now from Chelsea is a staggering, eye watering amount of money,"
said BBC Radio 5 Live senior football reporter Ian Dennis.
"What an
excellent bit of business from Benfica, who held their nerve because Chelsea
have pursued him throughout the whole window. Bit of brinkmanship and they've
got their rewards."
European
football expert Guillem Balague added: "He didn't start the World Cup but
he was absolutely crucial to Argentina winning it. It is down to his reading of
the game.
"You look
at what he did during the World Cup and you think 'really? Is that 121m euros?'
but the answer is no - you didn't see the full picture. He is much more than
that.
"He can
play in any place in the midfield. He can be a holding midfielder, on the
right, on the left, the stats show he increases the quality on the move, he
gives the last pass and the one before last - and he's been scoring as well.
"It's not
easy to find that kind of player that when the game goes into a really high
intensity he still displays good football."
Earlier in
January, Benfica accused Chelsea of trying to unsettle the midfielder, with the
Portuguese side's manager Roger Schmidt declaring their pursuit
"closed".
Chelsea have
signed Noni Madueke, Mykhailo Mudryk, David Datro Fofana, Andrey Santos, Benoit
Badiashile and Malo Gusto on permanent deals in January.
They have also
brought in Joao Felix on loan from Atletico Madrid.
The Blues are
10th in the Premier League, 10 points adrift of the competition's Champions
League places after 20 matches.
The club was
bought for £4.25bn by a consortium led by American investor Boehly last May,
after previous owner Roman Abramovich was sanctioned over his links to Russian
president Vladimir Putin.
By Simon Stone || BBC Sport
0 comments:
Post a Comment