Chelsea has completed the signing of Enzo Fernandez from Benfica for a club-record fee of £106.7million, a move that also smashes the record fee spent in the Premier League

The 22-year-old Argentine midfielder agreed to an eight-and-a-half-year deal that will keep him under contract at Stamford Bridge until 2031.

The move comes after an intense transfer saga that went right down to the wire after initial negotiations with the Portuguese club were unsuccessful. Talks were revived late in the window, and Chelsea’s owners reached a deal with Benfica late on Tuesday evening.

Benfica confirmed the sale of Fernandez in a statement on Tuesday night for transfer fee that breaks the British transfer record set by Jack Grealish in 2021.

Chelsea had also tried signing Brighton’s Moises Caicedo late in the window, while they sold Jorginho to Arsenal and decided to keep Conor Gallagher in a string of high-stakes midfield decisions.