After weeks of discussions, Chelsea FC finally managed to strike a deal with Benfica for Enzo Fernandez a few hours before the end of the January transfer window.
The Argentine FIFA World Cup winner was signed for a British record transfer fee of £106.8m (approximately Ksh16.4 billion).
The deal, which took more than 12 hours to strike, was more than the £100m (approximately Ksh15 billion) that Manchester City paid Aston Villa to sign Jack Grealish in August 2021.
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According to experienced American sports journalist Ben Jacobs, Chelsea’s owner Todd Boehly refused to give up until he landed his primary target.
“Chelsea have obviously won this transfer window. You have to applaud the ambition of the new ownership group.
“Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali's persistence key to signing Enzo Fernandez. As reported yesterday, Eghbali refused to take no for an answer. He just kept pushing,” ended Jacobs.
Fernandez penned an eight-and-half-year contract that is expected to expire in the summer of 2031.
Benfica and Chelsea agreed that the latter would pay £30m (approximately Ksh4.6 billion) first and cover the rest in five instalments.
However, the Portuguese-based club would not benefit from the record transfer fee alone.
According to football transfer guru Fabrizio Romano, Fernandez’s former club River Plate would receive 25% of the agreed transfer fee.
The 22-year-old joined Benfica in June 2022 from River Plate in a £10m (approximately Ksh1.5 billion).
His impressive displays at the Qatar World Cup were what significantly increased his valuation.
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