The January transfer of Benfica midfielder Enzo Fernandez to Graham Potter’s team has been hotly rumored, but the Blues are running out of time.
Chelsea Transfer News:
Chelsea F.C. still have time to make a move before the January transfer window closes, and a midfielder is high on their priority list. Although Moises Caicedo of Brighton has been linked too, Enzo Fernandez is the name that keeps coming up.
Chelsea are very interested in the midfielder, who recently helped Argentina win the World Cup, but signing him will cost the Blues money because Benfica has a £105 million release clause. The Blues have thus far refused to match that number.
But with only four days left in the transfer window, would Chelsea succumb and accept the lucrative offer? One of the main talking points of the winter transfer window thus far has been his future, with Benfica certain that anyone hoping to wrest him from Portugal must meet their £105 million estimate. Will he be heading to Stamford Bridge after an on-again, off-again saga that has lasted less than a week?
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Graham Potter‘s team still lacks midfielders despite the arrival of Noni Madueke, David Datro Fofana, Mykhailo Mudryk, Benoit Badiashile, Andrey Santos, and Joao Felix in recent weeks at Stamford Bridge.
N’Golo Kante, who hasn’t played since August due to an injury, and Jorginho, who both have contracts expiring at the end of the current season, make Fernandez the ideal target for the west London club.
Benfica are still trying to discourage interest from west London after Chelsea was unable to meet their demands earlier in the window about Enzo Fernandez’s £106 million release clause.
In order to close a deal this month, Chelsea has also been handed an incentive. If nothing changes for the remainder of January, European giants will be ready to pounce, and the Blues risk losing their free run if they wait.
Things will change drastically in the summer, according to CBS correspondent Ben Jacobs. He wrote on Twitter:
“If nothing dramatic happens in January, there will definitely be an open race for him come summer. Chelsea, Liverpool and even Real potentially. Completely different negotiation in four months.”
Fernandez may yet be lured to west London by Chelsea in January, according to the club. They’re prepared to offer him a contract that includes players and cash as well.
The £105 million release clause has been difficult to meet, but Chelsea might offer Benfica a few players in exchange for the money this month to finalize the transfer. Record quotes Sport Witness as saying that.
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Roger Schmidt, the manager of Benfica, has acknowledged that he thinks Fernandez will stay with the Portuguese giants this month, while Chelsea might make another offer for the gifted youngster in the coming days. Schmidt asserted: “Yes, of course [I’m confident Enzo stays]” in a statement on Wednesday.
“I think when you see Enzo playing at the moment for Benfica, I see a player who is on his top level, who is very happy to play for the club and I think there is nothing else in the mindset of the player.
“I don’t expect that we lose any of our players who are playing a lot and who are in the starting XI. That’s why I see very focused players and that’s why I expect that he stays.”
