Fernandez was named Best Young Player at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar after capturing the globe's attention with his performances for the Albiceleste. The midfielder has been linked with several teams, such as Manchester United and Liverpool alongside the London club.
Fabrizio Romano explained earlier on Thursday that Chelsea and Benfica representatives met at the English capital, almost in vain as the deal approached a collapse.
With Chelsea offering €85million, a number far below the required clause of €120million, matters seemed to go downhill. Especially after Fernandez angered Benfica supporters, flying to Argentina for a New Year's eve party and ended up missing training.
His manager, however, is protecting him and sees the youngster as pressured and entangled in the middle of it all.
''Enzo is a very good guy and a great player. We love him and we want him to stay at Benfica, but the situation for him is not so easy, because he played in the World Cup, was champion and received proposals.
''There is a lot of money on the table and a young player is left thinking and confused by these situations. He wasn't allowed to travel to Argentina, he missed training and that's unacceptable, so there will be consequences, but I won't announce them now.''
Schmidt announced in a press conference ahead of his side's clash against Portimonense on Friday.
The German went on to insist on how valuable Fernandez is to the club and on their wishes to keep him: ''We don't want to sell Enzo. Not me, not the president...Nobody wants. We know that there is a clause in the contract and, if the player wants to leave and someone pays that clause, we could in fact lose him.''
He finally expressed how disturbed he was by the way Chelsea were approaching the deal: ''There is a club that wants our player and knows that we don't want to sell him. They are trying to take him and they know they can only do so by paying the clause.'' He explained.
''It's a very clear situation and what that club is doing is disrespectful to Benfica and to all of us. I cannot accept what they are doing. They leave the player with expectation, they say they want to pay the clause and then they want to negotiate. I think this does not create a good relationship between the two clubs for a negotiation.''
That might be the end of Chelsea's hopes in signing the Argentinian, it will depend on their flexibility and willingness in meeting the requirements. The transfer window still has over three weeks remaining so Benfica might fail to keep the prodigy after all, it might just be a matter of who they lose him to?
