If soccer is the sport of the unforeseen, the meteoric leap that the Argentine Enzo Fernández has experienced in recent months was beyond any forecast and, possibly, precedents.
The world champion midfielder in Qatar 2022 was transferred this Tuesday, on the edge of the closing of the European market, from Benfica of Portugal to Chelsea of England for 121 million euros, a figure that positions it as the most expensive transaction of the history of the Premier League and of any Argentine player.
Midfielder who turned 22 two weeks ago and combines what is not abundant in football: fierceness, youth, good footing, presence in both areas, reaching the goal and a sharp shot from short, medium or long distance (he made Mexico a World Cup in Qatar), Fernández was unknown in the world of football until a few months ago: his first game as a starter for the Argentine team was against Qatar.
It could even be said that until not long ago he was also anonymous in his country: just in November 2020, at the age of 19, he made his debut in the First Division of Defense and Justice, a club that River, where Enzo started playing from the age of 6. years, he had given it on loan so that it could earn filming.
Returning to the red and white portion of Argentina in July 2021, Fernández earned a place in Marcelo Gallardo's team, became league champion in December of that year, played his last game at the Monumental stadium on July 6 of 2022 and, almost immediately, he left for Europe: Benfica paid him what now seems like a bargain, 10 million euros plus another 8 for goals, in exchange for 70 percent of the pass.
River, in any case, also did the great business in its history, since another 32 million corresponds to it for the 25 percent that Chelsea paid the Portuguese club, which added to the training mechanisms would round out 50 million, a figure never seen before. collected by any Argentine club for a transfer –in this case double, but from the same player-.
It is curious: Enzo's supersonic advance was also favored by two external factors, the controversial venue that FIFA chose for the last World Cup and the coronavirus pandemic.
Just as the 2022 World Cup was postponed five months from its regular schedule, from June to November, to find a place in the sweltering heat of the Middle East, the expansion of the list from 23 to 26 players on the bona fide list granted by FIFA -he did not make the reason official but the idea was born during the pandemic-, was also key for Enzo to arrive in Qatar.
Already with good performances in Portugal since his debut, in August, Fernández made his debut for the Argentine team the following month, in a friendly window in September: he played the last 24 minutes against Honduras.
By then, Panini had already closed his album and, of course, Enzo was not among the 18 Argentine players chosen to become figurines, as stickers are called in Argentina.
Finally Lionel Scaloni, the coach, chose him among the 26 who traveled to Qatar, but no one expected the role he would play there, not even the ownership he would earn.
Argentina debuted with a defeat against Saudi Arabia and Scaloni revolutionized the team with the entry of three young men, Alexis Mac Allister (then 23 years old), Julián Álvarez (at that time 22) and Enzo (still 21).
The great goal that he scored for Mexico, recently entered, was followed by ownership in the following games.
For the first time, a match began with the Argentine team against Poland, for the third date of group C, and since then it has not come out again: a position in which Argentina had great teachers, Néstor Rossi, Antonio Rattín, Fernando Redondo and Javier Mascherano.
His excellent World Cup ended as world champion and on the FIFA podium where he received the award for the best young footballer of the tournament.
Back in Portugal, Chelsea started looking for him.
From a discreet campaign in the current Premier League, today out of the Champions League qualifying positions, the English club was the great protagonist of the winter market by reinforcing itself for more than 330 million euros: in addition to Enzo, it bought the French Malo Gusto and Benoît Badiashile, the Ukrainian Mykhailo Mudryk, the Englishman Noni Madueke, the Brazilian Andrey Santos, the Ivorian Datro Fofana and got the loan of the Portuguese Joao Félix.
Until now, the most expensive Argentine had been Gonzalo Higuaín, for whom Juventus paid 90 million euros to Napoli in 2016. In the Premier League, the record was held by the 117,500,000 euros that Manchester City paid Aston Villa for Jack Grealish .
Enzo, who received that name due to the idolatry of his father by the Uruguayan Enzo Francescoli (the emblem of River Plate), signed until 2031 and will earn 10 million euros per year.
The Argentina-England football relationship once again builds bridges in common with six world champions, Mac Allister (Brighton), Álvarez (Manchester City), Emiliano Martínez (Aston Villa), Lisandro Martínez (Manchester United), Romero (Tottenham) and now Enzo.
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