Chelsea have completed the signing of Enzo Fernandez for £106m, in what is a British transfer record.
The Blues met Benfica’s release clause for the Argentina midfielder shortly before Tuesday’s 11pm transfer deadline.
A statement from the Portuguese side confirmed the deal past midnight, after Chelsea had rushed to complete the transfer.
It takes Chelsea’s spending this month to over £300m, while the transfer of Fernandez breaks the previous Premier League record set by Manchester City and their £100m signing of Jack Grealish in August 2021.
The 22-year-old Fernandez was named the best young player at the World Cup and starred for Argentina as they lifted the trophy in Qatar. He was signed by Benfica for around €10 million last summer and had made just 29 appearances for the club.
Benfica were adamant that Fernandez would not be sold at a price below his release clause and Chelsea eventually met their demands shortly before the 11pm transfer deadline, when an agreement was reached between the clubs over the structure of the payments.
River Plate, who were Fernandez’s first club in Argentina, will receive 25 per cent of the fee due to a sell-on clause included in the previous deal.
Fernandez is set to sign an eight-and-a-half-year contract at Stamford Bridge, as Chelsea continued their approach of signing up some of the game’s most promising young stars to long-term deals.
The signing of Fernandez is Chelsea’s seventh major transfer of the January window, following Mykhailo Mudryk, Benoit Badiashile, Noni Madueke, Malo Gusto, Andrey Santos and David Datro Fofana. Joao Felix has also arrived on loan until the end of the season.
In total, Chelsea have spent more this month than the rest of the Premier League combined did in January 2022.
Jorginho signs for Arsenal
Chelsea had earlier seen a midfielder leave Stamford Bridge as Jorginho joined Arsenal on an 18-month deal.
The 31-year-old Italy international moved across London after Arsenal had been keen to strengthen their midfield options following Mohamed Elneny’s serious knee injury earlier in the month.
PSG left ‘fuming’ as Hakim Ziyech transfer breaks down and source explains reasons behind big Chelsea fail
Hakim Ziyech has seen his hopes of a transfer to PSG break down at the last possible moment with the Ligue 1 giants left fuming after Chelsea left the player high and dry.
The Morocco star enjoyed an excellent World Cup with his country as they reached the semi-finals. And those stellar performances appear to have put him in the shop window for a lucrative move away from Stamford Bridge.
And after a season of frustration under first Thomas Tuchel and then Graham Potter, Ziyech spied a great chance to seal a move to Paris.
Indeed, Chelsea were willing to let Ziyech leave on an initial loan move, though at this stage, there was no option to buy. However, were he to impress, the Blues would have been unlikely to have stood in his way.
The move to the Parc des Princes was described as a ‘dream move’ for the former Ajax man. After all, the chance to team up with some of the world’s elite attackers in Kylian Mbappe and Lionel Messi does not come around often.
As such, Ziyech was eager to sign with the Ligue 1 giants and arrived with every intention of signing on deadline day.
And after passing his medicals, it only seemed a matter of when, not if, the deal would go through.
However, with Chelsea lawyers seemingly occupied elsewhere – the Blues earlier signed off the Jorginho sale to Arsenal and are also pushing through the finer details of Enzo Fernandez’s British record transfer – the move has failed to go through in time.
Ben Jacobs explains how Hakim Ziyech transfer broke down
Indeed, the documention was seemingly signed and sealed from the PSG end. However, with Chelsea failing to sign it off in time, trusted reporter Ben Jacobs has revealed the staggering turn of events.
He tweeted: ‘Hakim Ziyech deal is OFF. He is stranded in PSG club offices. Low confidence of any appeal or solution. Chelsea didn’t submit the paperwork on time.
‘PSG fuming. Ziyech has done everything in his power to make the move happen. Told he even offered to help financially. But right now he can’t be registered and is stuck in Paris.
‘PSG have an appeal route to LFP [French football’s French governing body for professional football]. But they are not optimistic on their chances.’
Fabrizio Romano added that ‘contracts are not validated as it stands’.
The news means Ziyech may be forced to return to Stamford Bridge if an appeal is unsuccessful. However, it seems both PSG and Ziyech will be left powerless with little optimism they can push the move through.
And with competition for starting spots at Chelsea tougher than ever, Ziyech will not fancy his chances of much game-time over the second half of the season.
SOURCE: independent.co.uk, teamtalk.com
