Benfica manager furious at Chelsea and warned he will punish Enzo Fernández after New Year’s break

Benfica coach, Roger Schmidtcriticized this Thursday Enzo Fernández for traveling to his native Argentina to celebrate New Year’s Eve against club orders and vowing “there will be consequences”.

Schmidt stressed that the Argentine midfielder “I didn’t have permission” travel and what he did “it is not acceptable”during the press conference before this Friday’s game against the portomonenseof the Portuguese League.

“He didn’t have permission to go to Argentina and he missed training. It’s not acceptable, so there will be consequences.” said the Benfica coach, who did not specify any penalty.

However, he assured that the former River and Defensa y Justicia is “a very good boy and a fantastic player”, and that he understands that his situation “it’s not easy”“He’s played in the World Cup, he’s been proclaimed world champion, and there have been offers with a lot of money on the table which, as a youngster, can be a bit confusing, something everyone can understand,” he said.

The 21-year-old Argentine midfielder has remained in the eye of the storm in Portugal following his “escape” to his homeland.

After Argentina’s World Cup triumph, Enzo started on the 30th against Braga in a game in which he showed his visible wear on the pitch, then went to Buenos Aires to celebrate the end of the year and returned to Lisbon only on January 3 for which he missed two Benfica training sessions.

The Portuguese media interpret the escape as an attempt to force his departure towards Chelsea, indicated as his most probable destination.

Schmidt against Chelsea

This Thursday, after speaking about Enzo Gate, the Las Aguilas manager accused Chelsea of ​​being one “disrespectful”. Of course, he has never mentioned the proper name of the club which is owned by Russian tycoon Roman Abramovich.

“There is a club that wants our player, they know we don’t want to sell him, they tried to get him on their side and theyThey know they can only have the player when they pay the clauseit’s a very clear situation,” Schmidt said.

The German added that “what the club that wants to buy Enzo is doing is disrespectful” and that it is something he cannot “accept”.

“Drive the player crazy and pretend you can pay the clausebut then they want to negotiate, it’s something I don’t consider a good relationship between clubs” he stressed.

Benfica have set the release clause for Enzo Fernández at €120m.

According to the Portuguese press, the Stamford Bridge club would have reached an agreement with the Argentine, but would have withdrawn his initial offer and would have proposed a figure lower than the clause that would compensate with players from his squad.

Five-point clear leaders Benfica host eighth-placed Portimonense on Friday and Schmidt did not confirm whether Fernández will start, sit on the bench or be called up.

Source: EFE