Manchester United’s prospects of signing Enzo Fernandez in the summer is still alive, claims Fabrizio Romano.
Fernandez had looked on course to sign for Chelsea, but they decided against paying his release clause, submitting a lower offer instead.
Relations between Chelsea and Benfica have hit the rocks, with manager Roger Schmidt blasting the club, via The Times: “It’s disrespectful against all of us, against Benfica, and I cannot accept what they are doing.
“So to make the player crazy and then pretend they can pay the clause and later they want to negotiate — I think it’s not what I understand about a good relationship between clubs who maybe want to discuss a player.”
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Manchester United chances to sign in Enzo Fernandez still alive
Chelsea were the only club perceived as willing to pay up for Fernandez this month. Benfica had made clear that they would not willingly sell him, only if a club pay his £105 million release clause. This could change in the summer.
Fernandez’s reputation soared at the World Cup after he helped Argentina win the tournament, and was awarded the prize for the best young player.
UOL Esporte reported in late December that Manchester United were prominent among the club pursuing the midfielder, with Argentine newspaper Ole linking United with a move last April, while he was still a River Plate player.
Speaking about the current situation on his YouTube channel, Fabrizio Romano said: “Man United are not currently negotiating for Enzo, but let’s see what happens in the summer.
“If Enzo stays at Benfica until the summer, then it could be a really interesting race because Man United will probably have new owners.”
Romano added that both Real Madrid and Liverpool hold interest in the summer, and believes the race will be wide open if Chelsea do not close the deal this month.
He stated there are ‘no new meeting scheduled’ between Chelsea and Benfica over Fernandez, as it stands.
It will certainly take new, ambitious and rich owners to get United into the mix for the player in the summer, but this is exactly what supporters hope will happen, that the Glazers will be replaced by owners capable of financing deals for the best players in the world.
It’s certainly good news to hear that he doesn’t appear to be moving to Chelsea just yet, who are rooted at 10th in the Premier League table.