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Chelsea have been accused by Benfica’s manager, Roger Schmidt, of “disrespectful” behaviour in their pursuit of Enzo Fernandez.
Tensions are clearly high between Benfica and Chelsea at the moment and Schmidt has said the Premier League club unsettled the Argentina midfielder and changed the basis of discussions.
Benfica angered by Chelsea's tactics
Chelsea, who on Thursday confirmed the signing of the defender Benoit Badiashile from Monaco for €38m, have made Fernandez a priority target.
There have been days of talks and Fernandez has told Benfica he does not want to play for them again but Schmidt insisted a deal was possible only if Chelsea paid the release clause, understood to be €120m.
"There is a club who want our player" Schmidt said. “They know we do not want to sell the player. They try to get the player on their side and they know that they only can get this player when they pay the clause. So it is a very clear situation. What the club is doing who want to buy Enzo is disrespectful against all of us, against Benfica and I cannot accept what they are doing.
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“So to make the player crazy and then to pretend they can pay the clause and later they want to negotiate, I think it is not what I understand about a good relationship between clubs who maybe want to discuss about the player.”
Fernandez has angered Benfica by returning to Argentina without their permission as he pushes for the move. Benfica would like to keep the 21-year-old until the summer and Chelsea maintain they do not want to overpay and will walk away if a deal cannot be agreed.
Chelsea continue to splash the cash
The heavy recruitment under co-owner Todd Boehly continued with Badiashile signing on a seven-and-a-half-year deal. He is the third centre-half bought since the end of last season, after Kalidou Koulibaly and the injured Wesley Fofana.
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Badiashile is the second January acquisition for Chelsea, after the striker David Datro Fofana. The club are also interested in the Shakhtar Donetsk winger Mykhailo Mudryk but his preference is to join Arsenal.
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