Benfica announced on Wednesday night that the club has entered into an agreement with Chelsea for the sale of Fernández for 121 million euros, which is one million more than the player’s buyout clause. Chelsea has not yet made the agreement public, but the papers were submitted on time, and the medical check-up has been passed. Benfica coach Roger Schmidt also confirmed the sale after the 2-0 win over Arouca on Tuesday night. – It is done. It’s part of football, but today I don’t want to talk about players who are no longer here, he said. According to Portuguese SIC, Fernández flies to London on Wednesday morning. Rekord Fernández was one of the bigger names during the football World Cup in Qatar. The 22-year-old was awarded the prize for the World Cup’s best young player and caught the eye of several of Europe’s biggest clubs. The most eager was Chelsea, who after a frantic rush on the last day of the transfer window got the transfer in the box. Argentina’s Enzo Fernández received the trophy for the best young player under the age of 21 after the match between Argentina and France in the FIFA World Cup Qatar in December 2022. Photo: Martin Meissner / AP According to several media, Chelsea have been interested in Fernández throughout January, but have not met Benfica’s money claim before now. The price tag is equivalent to £106.8 million. It is a new transfer record in English football. The most expensive purchase was Jack Grealish, who cost Manchester City £100 million when he joined from Aston Villa. The largest sale amount was £105 million, which Liverpool collected from Barcelona for Philippe Coutinho. 1.3 billion The London club tried for a long time to push down the price tag on Fernández, but Benfica was firm in not selling the player for less than the buyout clause of 120 million euros. This corresponds to NOK 1.3 billion. On Tuesday, the clubs were still in disagreement about how many installments the sum should be divided into, and how much should be paid at once. According to Sky, Chelsea will pay £30 million immediately, with the rest in five installments. The disagreement delayed the medical test, which was done in Lisbon, and the signing of the papers, but it was delivered by the deadline. Turbulent Chelsea have had a turbulent season and are currently in 10th place in the Premier League with 29 points from 20 games. In his desire to improve his position, new Chelsea owner Todd Boehly has spent billions. With the purchase, Chelsea have spent £288 million in this transfer window, according to Transfermarkt. The club spent 292 million in the summer window last year. Fernández is Graham Potter’s eighth signing as Chelsea manager after taking the job last September. The club has spent almost NOK 7 billion since last summer. Earlier in January, Ukrainian Mykhailo Mudryk was brought in for a sum that could amount to over NOK 700 million. Previously, Fernández has played in his native Argentina, where he played for the clubs River Plate and Defensa.
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