Chelsea's attempts to sign World Cup-winning Benfica wonderkid Enzo Fernandez appear to have been dented, with reports suggesting that talks over a potential move have ground to a halt.
The midfielder scooped the Best Young Player award as Argentina were crowned world champions in Qatar, and he has been strongly linked with a switch to Stamford Bridge.
However, a deal doesn't seem imminent, with football.london claiming that it currently 'hangs in the balance'.
Chelsea are believed to have already made a £75m bid for Fernandez – who only joined Benfica from River Plate last June.
However, the Portuguese giants are said to be refusing to sell the 21-year-old for less than his £105m release clause – which it was recently reported that the Blues would be willing to activate.
It is no secret that Fernandez has a release clause in his contract: Benfica boss Roger Schmidt has openly admitted as much, eluding to 'a club' (presumably Chelsea) trying to sign him. Speaking ahead of his side's 1-0 Primeira Liga victory over Portimonense on Friday, he said:
"We do not want to sell Enzo. Not me; not the president; nobody. We know; everyone knows he has a clause in the contract and if the player wants to leave and someone comes and pays the clause, of course we cannot work against that. Then maybe we will lose the player.
"There is a club who want our player. They know we don’t want to sell the player. They tried to get the player on their side and they know they can only get this player when they pay the clause. It is a very clear situation. What the club is doing, it is disrespectful against all of us – against Benfica – and I cannot accept what they are doing."
The Portimonense game saw Fernandez return after being left out of Benfica's previous match amid the Chelsea speculation – and Schmidt was frank about the effect it had had on his player, accusing Chelsea of driving him mad and changing their tune over negotiations. He added:
"So to make the player crazy, and then to pretend they can pay the clause and then later they want to negotiate, it is not what I understand to be [a] good relationship between clubs who want to discuss players."
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Meanwhile, Celtic's Josip Juranovic and Inter Milan's Denzel Dumfries are said to have been identified as potential right-back targets, with Reece James out injured again.
