Monitoring Desk
LONDON: Chelsea have agreed a British record 107 million-pound deal for Benfica’s Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez.
The Lisbon-based club said in a statement that it had “reached an agreement with Chelsea FC for the sale of all the rights of the player Enzo Fernandez”.
Fernandez, 22, who was part of Argentina’s World Cup-winning squad in Qatar, was named young player of the tournament.
The Argentinian’s signing is the joint-sixth most expensive of all-time, equalling the £120 million Barcelona paid for France forward Antoine Griezmann in 2019.
Fernandez joined Benfica for a reported £10mn
Fernandez had only joined the Portuguese side from River Plate in August last year, for a reported £10 million, and scored four goals in 29 games for the club.
He also netted once for Argentina during the World Cup, scoring the second goal in a 2-0 group-stage win over Mexico.
Chelsea have also signed Noni Madueke, David Datro Fofana, Mykhailo Mudryk, Andrey Santos, Malo Gusto and Benoit Badiashile on permanent deals in January as well as brought in Joao Felix on loan from Atletico Madrid, after a summer that saw the Premier League club spend a league record £270m – the second-highest summer spending by any football club in the world after Real Madrid (£292m) in 2019.
