Chelsea beat the clock to sign Enzo Fernandez and break the British transfer record
- Planet Sport writer
- 1 February 2023
Chelsea won its race against time to complete the British record transfer by signing Enzo Fernandez from Benfica for £106million.
The 22-year-old midfielder has signed a deal that will run until 2031.
The Fernandez deal took Chelsea's spending since last summer past the £550m barrier and broke the previous British transfer record, set by Manchester City following the signing of Jack Grealish for £100m in August 2021.
It represents a massive return on investment for Benfica, who had only just signed the player in August 2022 for a fee reported to be around £8m.
His stock rose massively during the World Cup, where his performances earned him the Young Player of the Tournament award.
In announcing the deal, Benfica kept it very businesslike and strangely didn't include a farewell for the player.
"In a statement sent to the Securities Market Commission (CMVM) at 12:13am this Wednesday, February 1, Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Futebol, SAD informed that it reached an agreement with Chelsea FC for the sale of all the rights of the player Enzo Fernandez, for a sum of 121 million euros.
"Benfica SAD also explained that Chelsea FC 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 SAD 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."
