There is a new record holder in West London, as Chelsea ended an unprecedented period of January spending with the marquee signing of Enzo Fernandez from Benfica.
Having already tried and failed to capture the World Cup Golden Boy earlier in the window, Chelsea cooled their interest before ramping up a second assault with only a few days of the window remaining.
A tiresome period of protracted negotiations later, and Chelsea had their man, with Fernandez’s move being confirmed just after the 11pm deadline for a British record fee of €121m (£107.9m).
With a great fee comes great expectations, and Fernandez will no doubt be expected to make an immediate impact at Stamford Bridge, which is more than can be said for some of his nine-figure predecessors
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Wesley Fofana - £71.7m
Forever driving an incredibly hard bargain for their most prized assets, Leicester City recouped a fee north of £70m for the sale of defensive starlet Wesley Fofana to Chelsea last summer.
The former Saint-Etienne man had endured a nightmare period with injuries at the King Power, but his exploits for the Foxes when fit - including an FA Cup final triumph in 2021 against Chelsea - convinced the Blues to pay the big bucks for his services.
Unfortunately for Fofana, fitness problems have reared their ugly head again, and he has been restricted to just six appearances in a Chelsea shirt so far - one of which saw him score his first goal for the club against AC Milan in the Champions League - due to a serious knee problem.
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