Earlier on Friday, we covered a tweet from Argentine journalist César Luis Merlo regarding Chelsea’s attempts to sign Enzo Fernández.
The player is protected at Benfica by a €120m release clause, but it seems the Blues are willing to pay more than that overall, with a fee of €127m being pushed by the journalist.
Now, the reason that fee is a bit more will be because it is not all one lump sum, as a €120m payment in one go wouldn’t allow for negotiations, since the Portuguese side would have to accept.
The fact that Merlo, in his latest update, states that Chelsea and Benfica are ‘already negotiating forms and structures around the €127m offer’, and the ‘fixed amount, bonuses and forms of payment must be established’ makes it clear this is not €127m up front.
This was made clear in a subsequent tweet by the journalist.
🚨Chelsea y Benfica ya negocian formas y estructuras en torno a las oferta de €127M por Enzo Fernández.
*️⃣Debe establecerse cuál es el monto fijo, bonos y formas de pago. No es una operación sencilla pero los ingleses están pujando por el 🇦🇷. https://t.co/ByI38ogZgt— César Luis Merlo (@CLMerlo) December 30, 2022
Either way, it’s clear that the Blues are going all out to sign the World Cup winning midfielder, and this is backed up by Record in Portugal.
The newspaper states that despite Fernández returning to Benfica after his celebrations, ‘he is unlikely to remain with the Eagles after January’.
While Rui Costa is doing everything to convince him to stay, the midfielder ‘is tempted by the proposal of Chelsea’, which allows him to earn ‘four times more’ than his current salary and ‘gives him the opportunity to play in the Premier League’.
Record state the Stamford Bridge side’s offer is of €130m, and while these numbers don’t exactly match with Merlo’s, the idea that the bid is beyond the release clause gives you an idea of what Todd Boehly is trying to do.
