helsea have announced a new club and British record transfer with the £106.8million transfer deadline day signing of Enzo Fernandez.
A truly hectic January window has been capped in fine style by the Blues as the eighth reinforcement of the month arrives to bolster Graham Potter’s squad.
Benfica have long demanded the full buyout clause be satisfied to allow World Cup winner Fernandez to leave, only six months after signing him for a tenth of that price.
Chelsea have forked out €121m (£106.8m) with an initial fee in the region of £34m before a number of instalments. The player has signed a contract to 2031.
The 22-year-old caught the attention of the footballing world when winning the Best Young Player award in Qatar at the start of the winter, and now joins Chelsea’s ailing push for a top-four finish.
Over 90 minutes after Tuesday’s transfer deadline, the deal was confirmed with a statement from Benfica after Chelsea had hinted at its completion with an Argentina flag on their Instagram profile.
Benfica said: “In a statement sent to the Securities Market Commission (CMVM) at 12:13am this Wednesday, February 1, Benfica informed that it reached an agreement with Chelsea for the sale of all the rights of the player Enzo Fernandez, for a sum of 121 million euros.
“Benfica also explained that Chelsea will have the right to retain the solidarity mechanism of 3.78 per cent for subsequent distribution to the clubs that participated in the player’s training.
“Additionally, Benfica will incur charges for intermediation services of 6.56 per cent of the sale value deducted from the solidarity amount and will also have to deliver to River Plate the amount corresponding to 25 per cent of the transfer value deducted from the solidarity amounts and intermediation services.”
Chelsea’s previous record signing was the £97.5m capture of Romelu Lukaku 18 months ago, in the same summer as Jack Grealish’s British record £100m move to Manchester City.
