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Enzo Fernandez, the World Cup winning midfielder has joined the Blues.
Chelsea has signed midfielder Enzo Fernandez from Benfica for a British record fee of £106.8 million.
The fee for the Argentine surpasses the £100 million paid by Manchester City for Jack Grealish from Aston Villa 18 months ago.
The 22-year-old, who only joined Benfica last summer for around £10 million, has signed an eight-and-a-half-year contract extension at Stamford Bridge that will keep him at the club until the summer of 2031.
Chelsea had been in talks to sign the World Cup winner throughout January, but Benfica refused to do business unless Chelsea paid his €120 million release clause.
Chelsea, on the other hand, agreed to a €121m deal at 9.15pm on Deadline Day, after 12 hours of talks led by Chelsea co-owner Behdad Eghbali from London.
The Blues will pay a first instalment of £30 million, with the remaining fee paid in five installments.
Enzo was put out of Benfica’s squad for Tuesday night’s match against Arouca. He missed the match because he was in Portugal for a medical ahead of his move to Stamford Bridge.
Fernandez will fly to the United Kingdom on Wednesday morning with a private jet leaving Lisbon airport at 10.20 a.m.
Enzo will assist in the replacement of Jorginho. Jorginho joined Chelsea’s London rivals Arsenal on Deadline Day for a fee of £12 million.
Enzo included in the Blues’ summer transfer, plus more stats
Chelsea’s policy of offering long-term contracts was maintained. Fernández, who helped Argentina win the World Cup in Qatar, has signed an eight-year contract. The club believes that offering such deals will help them meet FFP regulations. The key is amortization, or spreading the cost of a fee over the term of a contract. However, Uefa is set to change those regulations beginning this summer, with clubs expected to be barred from spreading the cost of fees for more than five years.
Chelsea, who are 10th in the Premier League, gave Mudryk an eight-and-a-half-year contract. They signed the Ukraine winger from Shakhtar for £88.8 million. Potter’s team is out of both cups and will have to fight for a place in the Champions League.
