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LONDON. — Benfica have sensationally amassed £1bn in player sales since 2010, including a host of fully-fledged English Premier League football icons.
The Portuguese giants made a tenth of this mind-boggling amount on transfer deadline day, flogging World Cup winner Enzo Fernandez to Chelsea for a British record of £107m. The Argentina international (22) signed for Benfica just six months ago for a mere £10m, marking an instant £97m profit and another massive tick for Aguias’ scouting department.
In making the switch to west London, Fernandez becomes the latest in a long line of former Benfica stars to don the royal blue, following the likes of David Luiz, Ramires, Nemanja Matic and Joao Felix to Stamford Bridge — though Graham Potter will be hoping Fernandez’s debut fares much better than the on-loan Atletico Madrid man.
Felix, who rattled in 25 goals in 96 appearances after graduating from the Benfica academy, still holds the club record for total transfer fee received.
The Lisbon-based club raked in a stonking £111m deal three-and-a-half years ago for the sale of their prized asset, while the sales of Luiz, Ramires and Matic, back to Chelsea having acquired him as part of the Luiz transfer, brought in £25.5m, £22m and £22m respectively.
Chelsea aren’t the only club to have broken their transfer record to bring in a Benfica star, only six months ago Liverpool handed over £85m to secure the services of Darwin Nunez. And in 2014 the Reds forked out £20m to bring Lazar Markovic to Anfield.
Elsewhere, English Premier League champions Manchester City have shown they’re keen admirers of the Benfica academy with three first-team regulars, and one outcast full-back, on the books at the Etihad.
Ederson, Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva and Joao Cancelo all earned their footballing stripes on the west coast of Portugal before joining Pep Guardiola’s outfit for a total exceeding £200m.
Other current English Premier League stars include Nelson Semedo and Raul Jimenez with ex-top fighters Angel Di Maria, Victor Lindelof, Renato Sanches and Andre Gomes all having previously played for Benfica. — The Daily Star.
Online Reporter