Chelsea are back in the race for Enzo Fernandez. What seemed to be a storyline that had been postponed until the June transfer window, now appears to be back on the immediate agenda.
As MARCA has learned, the London team has reopened talks with Benfica for the midfielder who won the World Cup in Qatar. On this occasion, they are willing to pay the 120 million euros that is rumored to be the value of his buyout clause.
However, Benfica‘s president, Rui Costa, is reluctant to let him leave. The player is willing to swap Lisbon for London and play at Stamford Bridge, but the ‘ok’ of the Portuguese club is required because of an issue related to the transfer taxes as the total amount of the clause is 120 plus taxes.
Chelsea don’t want to be fiscally liable for the taxes, but technically an offer of 120 million euros wouldn’t officially activate the clause.
This is an issue that has been common with players in LaLiga Santander, although often clubs come to an agreement on a transfer fee close to the value of the clause, which is what the Blues want in this case.
In previous negotiations, Chelsea were uneasy about offering as much as 85 million euros.
The transfer window closes on Tuesday so Monday, will be a decisive day to close the deal, giving Benfica time to look for a replacement in the market if Enzo Fernandez leaves.
A historic market for Chelsea
Chelsea have already strengthened their squad this month with the signings of David Datro Fofana, Benoit Badiashile, Andrey Santos, Joao Felix, Mykhailo Mudryk, Noni Madueke and Malo Gusto. The latter, recently announced from Lyon, will join in July.
In total, more than 200 million euros have been invested in this market. In total for the 2022/23 season, Chelsea are the first team in history to have spent over 400 million euros in transfers in one season. The 490.5 million spent on 15 players is enough to build a full squad and exceeds the investment of Roman Abramovich‘s last three seasons combined.
Chelsea have spent more than the other four big leagues combined in this January window.
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