Enzo Fernandez: How Chelsea made Benfica sexy

Jacque Talbot

• Updated: 3 Feb 2023 06:41 CST
• 3 min read

Enzo Fernandez’s record move to Chelsea has opened up a lot of doors for Benfica.

The Argentine broke the British transfer record on Deadline Day with a £105m fee attached to his transfer to Stamford Bridge.

Benfica only saw the youngster play 29 times in all competitions for them, having brought him in the summer from River Plate, who are set to receive 25 per cent of the overall fee.

READ MORE: Chelsea could have paid 'substantially' less for Enzo Fernandez, Benfica admit

The Portuguese outfit have now earmarked Santiago Hezze, an Argentine midfielder, aged 21, as a possible replacement for Fernandez.

He plays for Huracan, a side that competes in the Primera Division, the top level of the Argentine football league system.

Hezze spoke about the prospect of moving to Benfica, telling Tyc Sports: “I have my head on Huracán, calm down, for now, it's just rumours. My family supports me in these moments and I want to continue to help the team. While I'm here, I'm going to give 100 per cent of myself.”

'Mountain of money'

And the president of Huracan, David Garzon, made comments that highlight the major pull Benfica have now in buying talent at a low-cut price before sending them to the bigger leagues for mammoth fees.

He said via O Bola: “No one has communicated to me from Benifca. We'll be here to listen if that's the case. I hope Hezze can continue with us and, if the proposal is very good, we will analyse it with the player. It has a lot of potential. Imagine doing a move like River Plate did with Enzo, keeping part of the fee.

“Imagine the mountain of money we could receive, it would serve to balance the club's accounts for many years.”

Benfica have recouped some major fees over some of their recent transfers. Over the summer they sold Darwin Nunez to Liverpool for £71m. And now the club is considered one of the best developers in Europe - and we can start to expect a plethora of sides trying to get their players to them.