Chelsea have submitted a €130million (£115m) bid for Benfica’s rising star Enzo Fernandez, according to reports in Portugal.
Fernandez has emerged as one of football’s most promising talents after his impressive cameos for Argentina saw him win the Young Player of the Tournament award at the World Cup.
And – with a number of Premier League clubs interested – it appears the Blues have taken the first steps in their attempts to sign Fernandez but submitting a huge starting offer.
According to Record, the Premier League side have submitted a bid of €130million (£115m) to try and persuade Fernandez into a move to west London.
Costa, supposedly, is hopeful that the promise of winning their domestic league and a challenge for the Champions League trophy will be enough to convince the star.
Fernandez emerged as a transfer target for Graham Potter as the Chelsea boss looks to reduce the average age in his current squad.
As part of an overhaul of Chelsea under the new owner Todd Boehly, the London club have been focusing on investing in young players, at the expense of those who are older and more experienced.
With midfield veterans such as Jorginho and N’Golo Kante likely to be departing Stamford Bridge in the summer, Potter and Boehly have turned their attention to Fernandez – who won the World Cup with Argentina in Qatar earlier this month.
He was named Young Player of the Tournament during the international showpiece, and also got his name on the scoresheet twice – once with an own goal, and a second when he scored at the right end against Mexico.
As part of Chelsea’s continual eye glaring into the future, the club are also close to sealing a £20m deal to sign 18-year-old central midfielder Andrey Santos from Vasco da Gama.
Graham Potter’s side returned to league action with a 2-0 win over Bournemouth on Tuesday night.
First-half goals from Kai Havertz and Mason Mount wrapped up the comprehensive victory for the Blues in their return to Premier League football.
Potter’s only concern will be the injury dealt to full-back Reece James – who had only just recovered from a knee issue that ruled him out of the World Cup.
The Blues boss will be hoping his side can maintain their form for the next league clash, when they travel to Nottingham Forest on New Years Day.
[READ NEXT] Chelsea ace outlines positive impact of the World Cup break at Stamford Bridge
Jorginho opens up on how the World Cup break helped Chelsea
Speaking to Chelsea’s official website, Jorginho has opened up on how the World Cup break helped Chelsea and the aspects that they could work on with Graham Potter during the break.
Chelsea went into the break in the worst possible manner. They could not buy a win at all and were under some serious pressure to turn it around. Graham Potter had a momentous task on his hands. The World Cup hiatus gave him the chance to get back to the drawing board and iron out any kinks.
Whatever he worked on in the break seemed to be working last night as a completely resurgent Chelsea beat Bournemouth 2-0 last night thanks to goals from Kai Havertz and Mason Mount.
Potter has shown at Brighton that he knows how to make a squad play some very good football. He was expected to be able to do similar things with Chelsea who have a very talented squad, to begin with.
It looks like the English manager is slowly yet surely imprinting his style on the squad. More performances like the one last night are only set to give him more confidence and also buy him more time. Speaking about what the club did during the break and the aspects that they worked on, Jorginho has revealed how he thinks it really helped them.
“We worked a lot and it was good for the coach and the staff. In the end, not having all the players available makes it harder as well but it was a nice week in Abu Dhabi and having the guys back from injury is always good”
Jorginho opens up on World Cup break (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images)
Jorginho did not have to go away on World Cup duty due to the fact that his nation Italy did not even qualify in the first place. The Chelsea man was partly to blame for that debacle but he seems to have moved on from it.
The Italian continues to be an important cog for Chelsea and is having a great season this time around. However, there is speculation over whether he will still be a Blues player after the current season ends.
The Blues will be hoping to put on more performances like the one last night. If they can do that consistently, Potter could have a very special team who are capable of winning all the trophies.
SOURCE: dailymail.co.uk, astamfordbridgetoofar.com
