Chelsea have made a 120 million euro (£105.6m) bid for Benfica’s Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez, which would make him a British transfer record signing.
There is no indication yet whether the Blues’ offer, which was thought to include installments, will be accepted.
But if the deal goes through, it would eclipse the £100m Manchester City paid Aston Villa for Jack Grealish in 2021.
Fernandez was named the young player of the tournament during Argentina’s World Cup victory in Qatar.
Benfica have previously accused Chelsea of trying to unseat the midfielder, with the Portuguese side’s manager Roger Schmidt describing their pursuit as “closed”.
However, it is not thought that a Premier League club would make a new offer without giving some indication that it could be accepted.
Fernandez only joined Benfica from Argentine side River Plate in August for a reported £10m, and has scored four goals in 29 appearances for the Primera Liga side.
He scored once during the World Cup, scoring Argentina’s second in a 2–0 group stage win over Mexico.
Chelsea have signed Noni Maduke, Mihailo Madrek, David Ditro Fofana, Andre Santos, Benoit Badechile and Malo Gusto in January and brought in Joao Felix on loan from Atletico Madrid.
It comes after a summer that saw them spend a Premier League record £270m – the second biggest summer spending by any club in the world behind Real Madrid (£292m) in 2019. Is.
Most expensive signing in British football
| Player | Fee (year) | Club joining | Club leaving |
| Jack Grealish | £100m (2021) | Manchester City | Aston Villa |
| Romelu Lukaku | £97.5m (2021) | Chelsea | Inter Milan |
| Paul Pogba | £89m (2016) | Manchester United | Juventus |
| Antony | £82m (2022) | Manchester United | Ajax |
| Harry Maguire | £80m (2019) | Manchester United | Leicester City |
| Romelu Lukaku | £75m (2017) | Manchester United | Everton |
| Virgil van Dijk | £75m (2017) | Liverpool | Southampton |
| Jadon Sancho | £73m (2021) | Manchester United | Borussia Dortmund |
