Real Madrid will have to pay over €80m (£69m) in order to secure Enzo Fernandez’s services.
Fernandez has been impressive at Benfica in his debut campaign in Europe and has taken his form onto the world stage in Qatar.
It’s once again brought Benfica back into the eyes of the European elite, as they seem to have unearthed another gem in the shape of the Argentinian box-to-box midfielder.
Speaking on The United Stand, journalist Fabrizio Romano gave an update on the availability of the 21-year-old, who the Portuguese outfit are clearly unwilling to part with.
He said: “Benfica will ask for crazy money. They hope to keep the player for one more season, so not an easy one, but if it will continue like this, I think it will be more than €80-85m for Enzo Fernandez.”
TIF Thoughts on Fernandez to Real Madrid…
The Champions League holders boast two of European’s brightest young central midfield talents in Aurelien Tchouameni and Eduardo Camavinga.
But the potential arrival of Fernandez – who was hailed as “sensational” by presenter Matt Smith – would be hugely exciting and something Carlo Ancelotti would surely welcome, given the Argentina ace has completed 485 more passes than Tchouameni this season.
He also has a significantly higher expected assists total of 3.8 to Tchouameni’s 0.9 and Camavinga’s 0.6, and this paired with his wonder strike for Argentina’s second goal against Mexico at the weekend shows the Benfica midfielder could well turn out to be a better attacking option than both of those current options for Los Blancos.