Enzo Fernandez's former club River Plate are set to receive a whopping £26.75million after the Argentina international completed his move from Benfica to Chelsea.
The midfielder completed a £107m switch to Stamford Bridge after protracted negotiations between the Blues and Benfica. The fee is a record for Chelsea, trumping the £97.5m they paid for Romelu Lukaku in 2021, and also a new Premier League record.
River only sold the 22-year-old to Benfica over the summer for an initial £8.8million - as they beat Premier League side Wolves to his signature - but his impressive World Cup saw his value rise considerably. The windfall for the Argentine giants is more than the sum Manchester City paid them for Julian Alvarez in January 2022.
“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," a Benfica statement read.
“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.”
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Fernandez only made his senior competitive debut in 2020, playing once for River before moving on loan to Defensa y Justicia later that year. Upon returning to Marcelo Gallardo's side, he helped his parent club win the league title in 2021 in a side boasting league top scorer Alvarez.
He linked up with Benfica in 2022 after helping River reach the knockout stages of the Copa Libertadores. A return of four goals in 29 appearances for the Portuguese giants includes efforts home and away against FC Midtjylland in the Champions League qualifiers.
It wasn't until 2022 that Fernandez made his senior international debut for Argentina. However, after breaking into Lionel Scaloni's first XI during the World Cup, he ended up being named Young Player of the Tournament as his country won it all in Qatar.
Chelsea were already the Premier League's biggest spenders in January - and over the season as a whole - before completing their move for Fernandez. Mykhaylo Mudryk and Benoit Badiashile were among the other big-money January arrivals for Graham Potter's side, who have also brought in Joao Felix on loan from Atletico Madrid.
