Chelsea, eventually, secured a record fee for Enzo Fernandez on deadline day.
The World Cup winner nearly didn’t sign for the Blues amid disagreements over how the payment would be structured.
Chelsea want to pay the transfer fee over five years, whilst Benfica were looking to have the reported £106.4m paid in three instalments across two years.
In the end, an agreement was reach and the South American is now the most expensive player in British history.
With such a major price-tag on his head, many are worried the pressure may be too much for Fernandez.
However, Graham Potter has explained why he believes Fernandez will shine at Chelsea:
“But we’ll help him with that and his personality is one where you think, ‘Oh, I’ve got no worries about him’.
“He’s a fighter. I think he understands how fortunate he is. He fights for the team. He’s got courage, he’s not afraid, he’s open-minded.
“He wants to play football, he wants to improve. If you’re playing as the No6 for Argentina and you’re playing the big games he’s played in at his age, and with the quality he’s shown, it’s not straightforward to have those attributes.”
Adding about jibes from pundits such as Danny Murphy that Chelsea overpaid for a player who has featured in just 17 domestic European matches so far, Potter said: “I can understand it, absolutely. Every transfer is a gamble.
“If you look at the market for midfield players – certainly midfield players that haven’t won the World Cup – you’ll be quoted a lot of money.
“We’ve got a player with a huge personality. He played in the midfield for Argentina that won the World Cup. He has attributes that can help him play in any league in the world.
“He has already played well in the Champions League. We followed him before the World Cup, we knew about him anyway.”
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