It was during a trip to Qatar for the World Cup that Chelsea's Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali became enchanted by Enzo Fernandez.
Argentina’s No24 was left out of the team for their shock opening defeat to Saudi Arabia, but ended the tournament as superstar. Watching on were Boehly and Eghbali, who quickly identified the 22-year-old midfielder as their top transfer target.
Alongside new Chelsea head of recruitment Paul Winstanley, Eghbali asked super-agent Jorge Mendes to help pull off the biggest transfer deal in British football history. The pursuit of Fernandez was backed up by recruitment analyst Kyle Macauley and technical director Christopher Vivell back home. Together, they cooed over his data profile for Benfica and Argentina.
Mendes's connections to Benfica executives helped kick-start negotiations and it was not long before Fernandez agreed on a move to Stamford Bridge. He was won over by an out-of-the-box presentation about the vision of the new Chelsea owners, which helped win over all eight of their January signings.
Terms over an eight-and-a-half-year contract with Fernandez were quickly agreed through long-term agent Uriel Perez, but Benfica did not want to lose a player they signed from River Plate just six months earlier for £16million.
A move from Chelsea to pay the transfer fee in instalments or include players like Hakim Ziyech in a swap deal were initially rebuffed. Fernandez made an unsanctioned trip to Argentina and missed two training sessions as he tried to push through a move, but negotiations stalled.
Benfica were furious with the way Chelsea approached the deal, relations between the clubs became strained and Benfica president Rui Costa demanded they pay his £105m buy-out clause in full.
Chelsea were not willing to pay the fee in one large sum, as they bid to stay in line with Financial Fair Play regulations. They explored other options, including Brighton's Moises Caicedo and Everton's Amadou Onana, but it was decided that if they were going to spend big, it should be on their first-choice option.
After further encouragement from agent Perez, and Mendes's ability to ease tensions, talks restarted late last week. What followed was a frantic three days of negotiations. Benfica were happy for talks to go right to the wire in a bid to squeeze the best possible deal.
During the 11th-hour discussions, Fernandez underwent a medical in Lisbon. Chelsea had a private jet waiting to bring him to London and lawyers working to complete the move.
Chelsea put so much focus on Fernandez that other deals suffered. Hakim Ziyech was set to join Paris Saint-Germain on loan, but the deal collapsed because documentation was not submitted in time. Omari Hutchinson's loan to West Brom fell through and Hull's bid to sign to sign Xavier Simons was delayed until the summer.
After insisting they would not be held to ransom, Chelsea eventually paid more than Fernandez's buyout clause, agreeing a deal worth £106.8m. But, crucially, it allows them to pay the fee in instalments, with an initial fee of around £34m.
Chelsea went above and beyond to sign Fernandez, but believe they have a player who will lift the club and be a mainstay for the next decade.
