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After a day of difficult talks between the teams, Premier League team Chelsea finally completed the acquisition of Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez from Benfica for a British record 106.8 million pounds ($131.46 million) on Wednesday.
On the day of the deadline, it seemed like a deal might not be made, but Benfica later released a statement confirming that it had been achieved just before 2300 GMT on Tuesday.
The 22-year-old has a contract with the London club for eight and a half years, and it was stated that Chelsea will cover the release price. Chelsea has already spent more than 300 million pounds on transfers in January alone.
Even though Chelsea had not yet made a formal announcement about the world-record sale, Sky Sports reported that the paperwork had been filed on time and before the deadline.
Chelsea will pay the sum in numerous instalments, according to media reports.
“Sport Lisboa e Benfica – Futebol, SAD informs that it has reached an agreement with Chelsea FC for the sale of all the rights of the player Enzo Fernandez, for an amount of 121,000,000 euros,” a Benfica statement read.
In 2021, Manchester City paid Aston Villa 100 million pounds for England midfielder Jack Grealish, but this fee surpasses that sum.
Following the signings of Mykhailo Mudryk, Benoit Badiashile, Noni Madueke, Andrey Santos, David Fofana, and Malo Gusto, as well as the loan of Joao Felix from Atletico Madrid, Fernandez is Chelsea’s seventh newcomer during the mid-season transfer window. They are all 23 years old or younger.
In the Premier League, Chelsea is currently in 10th place, 10 points off of the top four. On Friday, they will host their nearby rivals Fulham.
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