The story of how Enzo Fernandez nearly joined Wolves last summer
Enzo Fernandez will look to ease Wolves’ relegation worries when Chelsea meet Julen Lopetegui’s side on Saturday, but few realize how close the Argentine star came to a move to Molineux last summer.
Fernandez’s rise was spectacular. River Plate to Benfica for £12.3m in July 2022. World Cup winner and Young Player of the Tournament in December. British record £106 million transfer to Chelsea in January.
The fee paid by Chelsea brought a few wistful smiles to the first floor of Wolves’ training ground in Compton, on the outskirts of Wolverhampton, where the club’s senior executives have their offices.
When Fernandez was presented as a Chelsea player, they went back to last July and a flight to Buenos Aires that all but ended with Wolves signing one of the world’s best young talents.
The Wolves recruiting team has followed Fernandez since he was loaned out by River at Defensa y Justicia, a relatively small club in the capital’s southern Florencio Varela suburb. This tenacious midfielder, whose every pass seemed to pose a question to the opposition, was well worth keeping an eye on.
Enzo Fernandez will be reminded of his near move to Wolves when Chelsea face them
Through their links with football agent Jorge Mendes, Wolves found out about Benfica’s move to Fernandez last summer and tried to hijack late
Due to their close ties to Jorge Mendes’ Gestifute agency, who also have a strong relationship with Benfica, Wolves became aware at the start of the pre-season that Benfica was close to a deal.
With chairman Jeff Shi’s blessing, Matt Hobbs – now Wolves sporting director but then head of recruiting – took a plane to Buenos Aires. After speaking to River beforehand, Hobbs met with their senior staff at River headquarters. It soon became apparent that the transfer fee would not be the problem.
River chiefs explained that they had already given Benfica their word that they would sell Fernandez to them, and they believed the player had also set his heart on the move.
But as a courtesy they agreed to pass on Wolves’ message and if Fernandez wanted to hear what the Premier League club had to say, he would get in touch. It turned out that he did. That evening, Fernandez and a consultant met Hobbs for dinner.
The meeting was doubly awkward because Benfica officials were staying at a hotel near the Wolves delegation in central Buenos Aires and the Portuguese had promised a reply from Fernandez the next day. No wonder Fernandez’s adviser received several concerned calls and messages that night.
Over the course of three and a half hours, the Fernandez and the Wolves contingent, including a Spanish-speaking one, dined on prime cuts of steak and chatted about football. Hobbs gave a detailed presentation of how Fernandez would become the linchpin of the Wolves side under then-boss Bruno Lage.
The midfielder made 51 appearances for River Plate before drawing the attention of Benfica
Although Wolves didn’t compete in the Champions League like Benfica, Fernandez was drawn to the idea of playing in one of Europe’s top five.
He was impressed by the presentation, just like Wolves by the manner and maturity of Fernandez. When they called it quits, Wolves thought they had a real chance.
The next morning, however, came the call that Wolves had always feared. There would be no Argentinian star in the old gold in the coming season. Despite Wolves’ best efforts, Fernandez would go to Lisbon.
If they failed, it wasn’t because Wolves fell short with their throw. After sleeping on it overnight, Fernandez, along with River, decided that the deal with Benfica was simply too far off to go through. Wolves had come so close, but left Argentina empty-handed.
After a spell in Portugal, Fernandez completed a record £106 million move to Chelsea
Wolves can at least console themselves by remembering that they ended up on the right side of a similar negotiation in January.
Wolves thought they had a deal with Brazilian giant Flamengo for midfielder Joao Gomes, only for Flamengo to accept a better offer from Lyon.
Still, Gomes’ idea had always been to move to Wolves and he did, for £13 million. Lyon owner John Textor even sent Wolves a good-humored tweet when the transfer was completed.
But the Wolves recruiting staff will forever wonder what could have been, and it would be strange if they didn’t. Stopping Fernandez this weekend would ease some of the pain.