By signing Lyon’s defender Malo Gusto on Sunday for 35 million euros, Chelsea completed their seventh signing in the current transfer window and 15th overall, if we count the June signings as well. The amount of money spent in the last half a year has raised to almost 500 million euros. But that’s not the end. Just like Nottingham Forest, the Blues are planning to spend more money, and this time, the sum could be similar to the one for which they paid Mykhaylo Mudryk. And they go back to the beginning of the year – to Portugal.🚨 Chelsea talks for Enzo Fernandez have advanced. Dialogue ongoing since rejection & now ramping up in search of deal. #CFC will go high if Benfica payment terms right + to avoid summer battle. No other players currently involved @TheAthleticFC #slbenfica https://t.co/0Hz6KEuAhN— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) January 30, 2023 Daily Mail revealed this morning that the Enzo Fernandez deal is on again. In fact, the Chelsea delegation is travelling to Portugal to really struck the deal, unlike a few weeks ago, when they only ‘circled’ around the young Argentinian, but haven’t made any offers, forcing Fernandez to skip the training hoping that he could ‘persuade’ his club to let him go. But it was not so easy for the young midfielder as he plays for one of the top European money-making clubs and president and former football legend Rui Costa is not an easy man to deal with.’Chelsea are disrespectful, they are driving Fernandez crazy’At the beginning of the year, Benfica coach Roger Schmidt took off the gloves and said Chelsea was disrespectful to his club.“We do not want to sell him, neither I nor the president. People know that there is a release clause, if he wants to leave and someone pays the clause, maybe we lose the player. There is a club that wants him, they tried to attract him, but they know that they can only have him if they pay the clause. It’s disrespectful to all of us, to Benfica, they’re driving the player crazy, they pretend they want to pay the clause and then they want to negotiate” explained Benfica coach.Chelsea trying to ‘get around’ the FFP rules, UEFA will stop themAnd indeed, the Blues tried to offer money, but well below the asked amount (85 million euros plus bonuses) and were promptly rejected. And now, according to Futebol, Chelsea will offer to pay the 120 million euros release clause in instalments, as they are under pressure to finalize a deal within the next 48 hours. This will also be their second attempt to sign Fernandez (who publicly claims he wants to go) by paying in instalments and it will be interesting to see if they succeed this time. Chelsea in fact made an offer to Benfica with was bigger than the release clause, but the Portuguese club refused, as it was structured to be paid in three instalments. Benfica wanted the full release clause to be paid upfront, and we will see if the London delegation will persuade president Costa to change his mind.##NAJAVA_MECA_6978720##
