How deal unfolded to bring World Cup wizard to Stamford Bridge

IT WAS during a trip to Qatar for the World Cup that Chelsea's Todd Boehly and Behdad Eghbali became enchanted by Argentina's No24.

- Nizaar Kinsella

Enzo Fernandez was left out of the team for their shock opening defeat by Saudi Arabia, but ended the tournament as a superstar. Watching on were Boehly and Eghbali (right), who quickly identified the 22-year-old midfielder as their top transfer target.

Alongside new Chelsea head of recruitment Paul Winstanley, Eghbali asked super-agent Jorge Mendes to help pull off the biggest transfer deal in British football history. The pursuit of Fernandez was backed up by recruitment analyst Kyle Macauley and technical director Christopher Vivell back home. Together, they cooed over his data profile for Benfica and Argentina.

Mendes's connections to Benfica executives helped kick-start negotiations and it was not long before Fernandez agreed on a move to Stamford Bridge. He was won over by an out-of-the-box presentation about the vision of the new Chelsea owners, which helped win over all eight of their January signings.