Benfica are not happy
Benfica boss Roger Schmidt has teared into Chelsea and accused them of being “disrespectful” in their pursuit of Enzo Fernandez.
Fernandez is one of the most sought-after players in world football after his dazzling performances for Argentina helped them win the World Cup.
His performances were so impressive he was awarded the young player of the tournament award, sparking speculation about a move away from Benfica in January, despite only joining from River Plate in the summer.
The 21-year-old has a reported €120m release clause and Chelsea owner Todd Boehly has attempted to try and bring the youngster to Stamford Bridge by paying a higher offer overall, but in instalments.
Chelsea are rumoured to have agreed personal terms already but the fee continues to remain a stumbling block, however Schmidt has been left furious with the Blues’ approach and called them out during his most recent press conference.
“There’s a club who want our player. They know we don’t want to sell the player,” he said.
“They try to get the player on their side and they know that they can only get this player when they pay the [release] clause. So it’s a very clear situation, what the club is doing who wants to buy Enzo.
“It’s disrespectful against all of us, against Benfica and I cannot accept what they are doing. So to make the player crazy and then pretend they can pay the clause and later they want to negotiate, I think it’s not what I understand about a good relationship between clubs who maybe want to discuss a player.
“That’s what I can say about the whole topic with Enzo and I will not answer further consequential questions.”
Chelsea face Manchester City on Thursday night as they bid to turn their fortunes around and recover from a lowly 10th position.
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