Dharmesh Sheth says ‘a contact of mine’ in Portugal has told him that Benfica aren’t happy with Chelsea’s approach for Liverpool transfer target Enzo Fernandez.
The Sky Sports transfer reporter added that Benfica might feel that they have no choice but to sell their World Cup-winning star for £120 million because of the money that is being put on the table for the 21-year-old.
Whilst Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have also expressed an interest in Enzo Fernandez, it seems as though he will be heading to Stamford Bridge this month.
The Reds have already splashed the cash on a player, after bringing in Cody Gakpo from PSV, with Diogo Jota still injured and Luis Diaz suffering a setback during the World Cup break.
That’s just one part of Liverpool’s problems, with Chelsea, now under Graham Potter, also struggling in the Premier League season, despite spending big back in the summer.
Both clubs are looking towards the transfer market for a new lease of life and hope they can turn things around and avoid dropping out of the Champions League, with Sky reporter Dharmesh Sheth sharing what he’s been told about Fernandez, as he told The Transfer Show on Sky Sports.
“The noises that are coming out of Portugal now,” said Sheth. “A contact of mine has just been messaging me saying that Benfica aren’t very happy about how Chelsea are approaching this, with regard to the release clause.
“Just to reiterate what we said yesterday. Some people are saying ‘why are Chelsea paying above the release clause? How does that work?’.
“Simply because they don’t want to put £120 million down upfront. But they can still pay more than the release clause, but in structured payments, then it’s up to Benfica if they want to accept that deal or not.
“Benfica might think ‘we might not get this money again because the release clause allows Enzo Fernandez to talk to anyone that he wants, whereas Chelsea might be putting together a deal that’s going to give us more than we have in his release clause’.”
ENZO FERNANDEZ OVERPRICED
Yes, Fernandez had an outstanding World Cup, including winning the Young Player of the Tournament, but surely clubs should stay away from paying £100+ million for the midfielder?
Argentina had lost their opening group game to Saudi Arabia at the World Cup, before beating Mexico in their second game, in which Fernandez came off the bench and scored.
If the South American giants had suffered a shock early exit in Qatar, would the likes of Chelsea be paying so much money for the player now? Probably not, which tells you everything.
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