Following all the reports today saying Chelsea are making a new effort to sign Enzo Fernandez from Benfica, Eagles manager Roger Schmidt had to talk about it.
The manager held a press conference ahead of the match against Arouca, and with the inevitable question about the midfielder, he gave the club’s stance on the matter.
“While the transfer windows are open, we have to be prepared for anything. We all know that there is this situation with Enzo, who has a release clause and, if there is a club that pays it, it’s a lot of money, we cannot prevent it,” said Schmidt (via A Bola).
“If that happens, we’ll have to be prepared and find solutions. At the moment, Enzo is still our player and we’ll see what happens until the end of the market. When the transfer window closes I will be very happy, we will be able to focus fully again on playing at our best until the end of the season.
“He’s our player and he has all the support. As I said before, he’s a great person and a great player. While the market is open, you always have to wait for something to happen, we know how the football business works. That’s all I can say on this subject.”
The latest reports from Argentina have claimed that Chelsea are now offering €120m for Fernandez. That’s the price for the player’s release clause and, therefore, the number that had always been requested by Benfica during negotiations.
However, the Blues want the payment to be made in several instalments, so we have to wait and see if the Eagles president Rui Costa will accept that.
Benfica are top of the Portuguese League table, and selling their biggest star in the middle of the campaign isn’t something they’d like to do. That’s why they’ll keep making things hard for Chelsea, and with Fernandez not rebelling for a transfer this time, it’s possible that he ends up staying until the summer.
