BREAKING NEWS: Chelsea are 'ON THE VERGE of £115M Enzo Fernandez deal'
Chelsea are ‘ON THE VERGE of a British record £115m deal for Enzo Fernandez after offering £10m OVER his release clause’, as Benfica president Rui Costa cancels dinner plans to negotiate
- Chelsea are reportedly on the verge of completing a deal for Enzo Fernandez
- The Argentina World Cup winner has been the subject of intense negotiations
- Transfer News LIVE: Keep up-to-date with all the latest developments and deals
Chelsea have made a new bid worth up to £115m for Benfica midfielder Enzo Fernandez and are increasingly hopeful they can land the World Cup winning midfielder in a deal that would make him the most expensive signing in British football history.
Chelsea have refused to give up on signing Fernandez after being frustrated earlier in the window and resumed their push to sign the 22 year old before Tuesday’s 11pm deadline.
Fernandez has privately reiterated his desire to join Chelsea before the January cut-off point following the revival of the Blues’ interest, having done so more publicly earlier in the month.
Chelsea have reportedly agreed a £115million deal for Benfica star Enzo Fernandez
Fernandez has been the subject of intense January transfer negotiations between Chelsea and Benfica
Benfica President Rui Costa has cancelled his dinner plans to finalise the potential transfer
Chelsea’s offer, reported by The Times, would be paid instalments and is £10m above the valuation of the buyout clause in Fernandez’s Benfica contract. It tops the £100m Manchester City paid Aston Villa for Jack Grealish.
However the structure of Chelsea’s proposal represented a sticking point. They have offered to spread the fee over six payments though Benfica want the money in one go, something that would be problematic for Chelsea after spending over £450m under the ownership of the Todd Bohely-led consortium, or Chelsea to pay more than the value of Fernandez’s clause to compensate.
Benfica president Rui Costa cancelled plans to attend a celebration dinner on Monday amid intensifying discussions with Chelsea.
Meanwhile Fernandez is understood to have not trained yesterday while his future hung in the balance.
Benfica were initially reluctant to part with Fernandez so close to the end of the window when talks between the clubs resumed.
Fernandez has made his intentions clear throughout the transfer window that he wanted to join Chelsea
Argentina’s World Cup winning midfielder Fernandez was named the young player of the tournament in Qatar
But Chelsea have remained undeterred having made Fernandez their No.1 midfield target and not given up hope of strengthening their engine room heading into the final few days of the window after already making seven signings this month.
Chelsea’s clear preference is to strike a deal before the end of this window and optimism was growing yesterday that a compromise can be found.
If they were to run out of time, sources have told Sportsmail that getting a deal pre-agreed for the summer would be a back-up plan to avoid a potential auction with other clubs. Chelsea have one such agreement in place for RB Leipzig forward Christopher Nkunku.
Chelsea manager Graham Potter (right) has been heavily backed by the club with huge transfers
Chelsea chairman Todd Boehly looks set to land his target after weeks of negotiations
Chelsea have seen previous offers rejected by Benfica and were criticised by the Portuguese side’s manager Roger Schmidt who earlier in the month labelled their attempts to sign Fernandez ‘disrespectful.’
On Monday Schmidt said: ‘While the transfer windows are open, we have to be prepared for anything. At the moment, Enzo is still our player and we’ll see what happens until the end of the market.’
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