von Daniel Kugler
World Cup hero Enzo Fernandez is said to be about to be transferred to Chelsea. The “Blues”, in turn, are to transfer a transfer fee of well over 100 million euros to his club Benfica Lisbon for the services of the central midfielder and top performer of world champion Argentina when winning the title in Qatar.
So much, so good, but apparently the change is far from over and those involved on the Portuguese side are now more than pissed off about the actions of the London club. Benfica’s coach Roger Schmidt has now commented on the situation and has accused Chelsea of disastrous behavior in the negotiations for their top star.
“There is a club that wants our player,” Schmidt began after the defeat by Sporting Braga, the club’s first league game since the World Cup in Qatar, which was synonymous with Schmidt’s first defeat at Benfica after 28 unbeaten games:
“You know we don’t want to sell this player,” said the 55-year-old without naming the club, but the sparrows have been whistling the English club’s efforts from the rooftops for weeks.
And Schmidt was visibly pissed off by the transfer behavior in question: The club is trying to “pull the player on its side. But you know that you can only get this player if you pay the stipulated transfer fee. So it’s a clear and unmistakable situation .”
Benfica coach Roger Schmidt admonished FC Chelsea
In concrete terms, this means that if Chelsea does not pay the contractually anchored exit clause of 120 million euros, the player will remain in Portugal, where the 21-year-old is still under contract until 2027. Even if the Londoners have long since chosen Fernandez to be the king of the transfer and would like to commit in the winter transfer window.
Once he got going, the German trainer then got into a rage: “What the club that wants to buy Enzo is doing is disrespectful – to all of us. I can’t accept what they’re doing there. They drive the player crazy, give pretends to be able to pay the fixed fee. And later they want to negotiate. I don’t think that’s how the relationship should be between two clubs who want to talk about a player.”
A clear warning to the “Blues” in the courtship of midfielder Fernandez, who was voted the best young player in the World Cup.