Chelsea sign Fernandez for British record fee

LONDON (Reuters) - Chelsea have completed the British record 105 million pounds ($129.18 million) signing of Benfica midfielder Enzo Fernandez, Portuguese club Benfica confirmed on Wednesday.

After a day of negotiations between the two clubs, Premier League team Chelsea reached agreement to pay the release fee for the 22-year-old Argentina World Cup winner.

The fee eclipses the 100 million pounds Manchester City paid Aston Villa for England midfielder Jack Grealish in 2021.

"Sport Lisboa e Benfica - Futebol, SAD informs that it has reached an agreement with Chelsea FC for the sale of all the rights of the player Enzo Fernandez, for an amount of 121,000,000 euros," the statement read.

($1 = 0.8128 pounds)

($1 = 0.9208 euros)

(Reporting by Martyn Herman; Editing by Christopher Cushing)