Chelsea have been relentless in the January transfer window as the Blues seek to fight back in the league and try and claw themselves up to the Champions League places.
Currently in 10th position, Chelsea find themselves 10 points away from the crucial top four, and the time in which to catch up is quickly running out.
Earlier in the window, the club repeatedly tried to sign Enzo Fernandez from Benfica. The Lisbon club repeatedly pointed at the Argentine’s €120m release clause and weren’t prepared to listen to Chelsea’s attempts to reduce that.
There was even a proposal which included multiple players from the London club, but that was quickly dismissed by Benfica.
The Portuguese newspaper say, according to their own information, that Chelsea are ‘preparing a new raid’ for the World Cup winner. Despite that, it’s reiterated Benfica want €120m for the midfielder, and ‘not a penny less’.
Going over the London club’s previous efforts, Record state: ‘In December, Chelsea came to Lisbon to negotiate with the Reds and proposed paying €127m in instalments, with Rui Costa (Benfica’s sporting director) intending to receive the value of the clause in cash. Subsequently, Chelsea officials changed the terms of the proposal and put on the table an offer of €90m plus Ziyech’s transfer on a permanent basis and the loans of Datro Fofana and Andrey Santos.’
Those offers didn’t please Benfica and actually managed to cause annoyance at the club. What Chelsea may propose now isn’t clear.
