Chelsea is considering a move for Argentina sensation Enzo Fernandez despite their spending being up to £500m next season. The Blues have added 16 players since Todd Boehly’s group bought the team last summer, but they are still looking to bolster head coach Graham Potter’s roster in January. Chelsea is still considering making a fresh offer for Argentina and Benfica midfielder Enzo Fernandez. Early this month, the west London club made an attempt to sign Fernandez, but negotiations came to a halt when Benfica claimed he could only depart if his £106 million release clause was satisfied. Chelsea has made an effort to reduce the asking price and is eager to lend players to the Portuguese team as part of the agreement.
Despite being demoted for one game, Fernandez is back playing frequently for Benfica after being desperate to join Chelsea at the beginning of January. The 22-year-old will receive a significant salary raise if he goes, but Benfica has been pressuring him to sign a new deal since they believe Real Madrid and Barcelona will be interested in acquiring him in the summer.
“There is a club that is interested in him; they made an effort to entice him, but they are aware that they must pay the clause in order to obtain him,” Benfica head coach Roger Schmidt said after Enzo Fernandez was linked to Chelsea. “It’s disrespectful to both Benfica and all of us. The player is going insane from these. They pretend to want to pay the clause before expressing a desire to bargain.”
Chelsea wants to add at least one midfielder due to uncertainty surrounding the long-term futures of Jorginho and N’Golo Kante, whose contracts expire at the end of the current campaign. Chelsea has the money to meet Fernandez’s £106 million release clause, although doing so would make it more difficult for them to follow the Premier League and UEFA financial fair play laws. Along with Fernandez, their targets include West Ham’s Declan Rice, Jude Bellingham of Borussia Dortmund, and Moises Caicedo of Brighton.
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