The historic and millionaire sale of
Enzo Fernández
has a behind the scenes.
That began long before
Chelsea
disbursed 121 million euros to acquire it from
Benfica
and
River
and that the 22-year-old world champion midfielder jumped from the Portuguese League to the Premier League causing the Núñez club to pocket a total of more than 50 million euros.
And that has as a secret a negotiation with a sports and market vision.
The story began in the first semester of 2022 when
offers for Enzo Fernández began to arrive at River
.
As
Clarín
was able to find out , there were many clubs that were interested in the midfielder born in San Martín.
Among them, Benfica.
The cover of the newspaper Récord de Portugal announcing that Benfica was going for Enzo..
At that time,
River opted for the Portuguese club, despite the fact that it was not the highest offer
.
The reason?
The good reputation - embodied in reality - that this institution has to resell youth.
Discarded the other options, including a Premier League club, Wolverhampton, River focused on Benfica.
And the negotiations, from start to finish, were taken over by President Jorge Brito, with some interventions from the first vice-president, Matías Patanian, and the sports secretary,
Enzo Francescoli
.
Brito had a permanent dialogue with the former soccer
player Rui Costa
, president of Benfica, through different calls, video calls and zooms.
And the axis of the negotiation was to maintain a significant percentage of Enzo Fernández.
River set 25% from the beginning, that is, a quarter of the chip because
it understood that this percentage would be more important for a future transfer than the sale
itself to Benfica, which was already good.
But not everything was pink.
In the middle of 2022, when the talks advanced and Benfica even sent Rui Bras, its sports director, as an emissary,
the pass was about to fall
.
It is that Benfica first wanted to leave River only 10% and then it went up to 15%.
However, Núñez's club remained firm and told him
that it would not move from 25%
.
At that time, the advice of the businessman and representative Jorge Mendes
(he managed the career of Cristiano Ronaldo), who was closely linked to Brito
, was also vital .
Mendes gave his advice to hold firm with 25% because Enzo in the future could be sold for more than 100 million euros.
Enzo Fernández converts for the Copa Libertadores in Brazil, on the Fortaleza field. Photo: EFE/Jarbas Oliveira
Benfica at that time came to offer more money for the pass and for River to keep 15%.
Even so, the leadership of the Núñez club understood that it was key to prioritize 25% and maintain the 18 million euros offered, which even came close to Fernández's termination clause with River, which was 25 million euros.
Even in recent months, with Enzo already playing for Benfica,
River had the chance to sell that 25 percent because Benfica asked to buy it but in Núñez they maintained their position of keeping it
.
With the transfer of 121 million euros of Enzo Fernández from Benfica to Chelsea, a remarkable circle of the player with River is closed.
Not only with these curiosities behind the negotiation, but also with a life story that began when Enzo arrived at the club as a very young child, at the age of Pre-Infantile.
Fernández not only trained in football at River, but also grew, developed and studied at the club's Institute before making his debut in the First Division.
And after returning from his loan with Defensa y Justicia and becoming champion with Marcelo Gallardo's team, he had to renew his contract.
It was one of the first renewals of the management headed by Jorge Brito
.
And at that moment there was not only a sporting vision from the leadership to continue betting on him, but also from the player himself, who did not speculate on a possible freedom of action to negotiate future offers on his own, but rather put his commitment and sentiment first. for the club and his desire that his career continue to rise on the field, where he did not stop growing until he was a World Champion and reached the best League on the planet today.
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Enzo Fernández heading to Chelsea: he said goodbye to Benfica with great emotion and leaving a stick to the press
