121 million euros – Enzo Fernández moves to Chelsea for record fee

Argentina’s World Cup-winning midfielder gets the move he wanted and swaps Lisbon for London for a Premier League record fee of 121 million euros.

Chelsea have signed World Cup winner Enzo Fernández from Benfica for a British-record 121 million euros (US$131 million), the Portuguese club announced early on Wednesday.

The midfielder, 22, was named Best Young Player of the World Cup for his displays during Argentina’s successful campaign in Qatar.

The £106.8 million fee eclipses the previous record of £100 million that Manchester City paid Aston Villa for Jack Grealish in 2021. It also means that Enzo Fernández is now the most expensive Argentine player in history, having surpassed Gonzalo Higuaín’s 90-millioneuro move from Napoli to Juventus in 2016.

The ex-river Plate star has signed an eight-and-half-year deal that will run until 2031.

Fernández only joined Portuguese giants Benfica in July last year, for a reported fee of around £10 million.

Todd Boehly’s consortium has spent hundreds of millions since buying Chelsea at the end of last season in the hope that his extra splurge will lift the club from 10th place in the Premier League.

News of Enzo’s departure did not go down well with Benfica coach Roger Schmidt, who expressed annoyance at losing a key player mid-season.

“The deal is done, it’s part of football, but what matters is Benfica. I’m not going to talk about players who are no longer there,” he told Sport TV after his side defeated Arouca 3-0 in the Portuguese league on Tuesday night.

“Benfica is much bigger than any one player. We need players who are happy playing for the team. If a player decides on his own that he wants to leave and a club pays the clause, we can’t do anything,” he added.

As well as his new side, another team will be rejoicing at the news of Fernández’s switch from Lisbon to London: local giants River Plate, his former club.

The Millonario, according to reports, negotiated a 25-percent sell-on clause in his transfer to Benfica, meaning River are set for a windfall of some 32.5 million euros in the coming months and years.