Did Benfica rip Chelsea off? Enzo Fernandez's transfer value plummets
Tom Weber
- 4 Nov 2023 08:43 CDT
- 4 min read
Erstwhile Chelsea record signing Enzo Fernandez has suffered a significant drop in valuation amid the Blues' patchy form.
There is always a danger in signing a player off the back of a relatively brief good run of form - and Chelsea may be finding this out the hard way right now. There is no denying that Enzo Fernandez is an exceptional player, yet the Blues were forced to shell out €121 million to acquire his services after the Benfica midfielder had helped Argentina claim their second World Cup.
It seemed a hefty fee then and it still does - perhaps even more so - now. In fact, at the time it was a British record fee since broken by Chelsea again with the €133m acquisition of Moises Caicedo from Brighton. It would not be outlandish to say that the Blues massively paid over the odds for Fernandez.
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Indeed, this statement is backed up by FootballTransfers' in-house Transfer Valuation Model. At the time of his €121m move, Fernandez was valued at just €24.3m. Of course, the 22-year-old's significant potential always meant that it would take much, much more than that to prise him away from Lisbon, yet one can't help but feel that the eventual fee was borderline outrageous.
Fernandez's devaluation
The Argentine is in no way to blame for Chelsea's struggles last term or their inconsistent form this season, but he has so far done little to justify his price tag. In fact, his valuation has never even come close to matching his fee, with his peak transfer value standing at €82.7m at the end of 2022/23.
He's not been the world-beater a player that commanded such a fee would be expected to be. Some of it is down to the position he plays, some of it to the team around him and the circumstances in which he was thrown. However, some of it is also simply down to the fact that, well, he's just never been worth that money in the first place.
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In the months since his peak, the midfielder has suffered a quite drastic devaluation. He is down almost €14m from his zenith, with his current value standing at €69m. But Enzo Fernandez isn't the only Blues player whose value has dropped.
On the contrary, Raheem Sterling, Conor Gallagher, Mykhailo Mudryk, Reece James and Ben Chilwell, to name just a few, have all been devalued in recent months, illustrating just how far Chelsea have fallen as they once again languish in mid-table.
