Chelsea has signed Argentina midfielder Enzo Fernandez from Benfica for a British-record £106.8m.
The World Cup winner’s deal eclipses the £100m Manchester City paid for Jack Grealish in 2021.
Fernandez only joined Benfica last summer from River Plate for £10m and has signed an eight-and-a-half-year contract.
The Argentine side will bank a huge £26.5m from a sell-on clause, their own transfer record.
Benfica said in a statement it had “reached an agreement with Chelsea FC for the sale of all the rights of the player Enzo Fernandez”.
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Chelsea had been in talks to sign the World Cup winner throughout January, but Benfica had refused to do business unless the Blues paid his €120m release clause.
The Blues will pay a first installment of £30m with the rest of the fee paid in five further installments.
Chelsea could end up paying as much as £110m with extras for a player who has scored only two goals this season.
Fernandez joins Chelsea hours after the departure of midfielder Jorginho, who joined Arsenal on deadline day for £12 million.
Fernandez will reportedly fly to London on Wednesday, February 1.
He will be a welcome addition to Graham Potter’s side, who have struggled in the early part of the season.
The Blues are facing the tough task of securing Champions League football.
They are 10th in the Premier League, 10 points adrift of the competition’s Champions League places after 20 matches.
Chelsea has been the most active Premier League club in the January transfer window. Their spending has now reached £322m this window with Fernandez becoming the eighth signing.
Fernandez has followed Malo Gusto, Joao Felix, Benoit Badiashile, David Datro Fofana, Mykhailo Mudryk, Andrey Santos and Noni Madueke to Chelsea.
