Chelsea, Benfica ‘come closer’ on Enzo Fernández agreement ... for the summer? — report

As Chelsea work feverishly to try to wrangle an agreement out of Benfica for Enzo Fernández in the next three hours, before the January transfer window slams shut, one potential solution that’s started to gain some traction is to strike a deal for the summer instead — either as a loan back, a la Lyon and Malo Gusto, or as a pre-contract, a la RB Leipzig and Christopher Nkunku.

This would allow Benfica to see out the season with Enzo, and also allow Chelsea to beat out all other suitors for the 21-year-old’s signature. Sure, he wouldn’t actually play for us until next season, but we would also get to avoid a bidding war in the summer.

This idea has now been floated by the Telegraph’s Matt Law as well in his latest update on the situation, which claims that while we are getting “closer” regarding the “structure” of a potential deal, we still do not have an agreement. Hope remains of a swift resolution still, but that seems increasingly unlikely now...