Chelsea are believed to be keen on strengthening their midfield options following the report that both Jorginho and N’Golo Kante could leave Stamford Bridge on a free transfer when their contracts expire at the end of the season.

Sequel to the above, National Daily learnt from the claims by the The Daily Record that Chelsea have proposed an offer in excess of €127 million (£113m) for Benfica World Cup hero Enzo Fernandez topping the fee the Portuguese club received for Joao Felix from Atletico Madrid in 2019.

It was believed that Chelsea had in a meeting with Benfica president Rui Costa and super-agent Jorge Mendes convinced the Portuguese club that the midfielder’s mammoth release clause would be no issue.

Meanwhile, according to further reports gathered by National Daily, it is understood that Benfica are attempting to convince the Argentine to stay until the end of the season following Chelsea’s club-record offer for the midfielder.

The 21-year-old is in high demand off the back of Argentina’s World Cup win in Qatar with Chelsea, Manchester United, Liverpool and Real Madrid all interested in a deal.

Liverpool and Manchester United have both held advanced talks with Benfica and Fernandez’s representative this month, but Chelsea are appearing to blow their Premier League rivals out of the water with a huge bid.

But according to Record, Benfica president Rui Costa has now spoken to Fernandez and doesn’t want the midfielder to leave despite Chelsea’s significant offer.

The report claims that Costa is trying to persuade Fernandez to stay at Benfica until next summer.

Meanwhile, there is another twist to the transfer speculation following the report by O Jogo that Benfica are already preparing for Fernandez’s departure in the January transfer window and are lining up a replacement for the Argentina international with Racing Club’s 20-year-old midfielder Carlos Alcaraz and Velez Sarsfield’s 19-year-old defensive midfielder Maximo Perrone both believed to be on Benfica’s shortlist.