Chelsea are on the cusp of signing Enzo Fernandez from Benfica. He would be far from the first player to make the journey from the Estadio da Luz to Stamford Bridge…
Chelsea are in pole position to sign the Argentine World Cup winner, one of the few clubs willing and able to match his €120 million release clause, and he could become the Blues’ biggest arrival in the winter transfer window.
Chelsea’s most successful manager in history Jose Mourinho cut his coaching teeth at Benfica, meanwhile, and the London club have scouted his native Portugal prolifically since he first arrived in 2004.
READ: Chelsea to beat Man Utd and Liverpool to Enzo Fernandez signing
Football Transfers looks at the players that have swapped Benfica for Chelsea before Fernandez…
David Luiz (for €25m in 2011)
David Luiz joined Chelsea – for the first time – in January 2011, with Nemanja Matic going the other way at the end of that season as part of the deal.
A Brazilian centre-back often accused of being a better footballer than defender, he still won a Champions League in his first spell at the club before making a then world record €50m move for a defender to PSG. Returned in 2016 and added a Premier League to his trophy cabinet before moving to Arsenal in 2019.
David Luiz and Lampard with the goals #OnThisDay in 2011! 👏 pic.twitter.com/mxKvcspWzJ
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) March 1, 2022
Ramires (for €22m in 2010)
Luiz’s fellow Brazil international Ramires had already been at Chelsea for five months when he arrived at Stamford Bridge, the midfielder inheriting Andriy Shvenchenko’s No.7 jersey.
READ: Kante out, Moukoko in: What Chelsea need in January transfer window
A radically different player from Shevchenko, Ramires won fans over with his hard-running in midfield. Won every major trophy at home and abroad before leaving for Chinese Super League side Jiangsu Suning in a €28m – a €6m profit – in 2019, the same summer Luiz left for the second time.
Three cheers for Ramires… hip hip 🥳, hip hip 🙌, hip hip 😝
Pure magic #OnThisDay 🆚 Barcelona in 2012! 🤩 pic.twitter.com/Asj4qg0JzS
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) April 24, 2021
Nemanja Matic (for €25m in 2014)
Matic was only valued at €5m when he acted as a counterweight in Luiz’s first Chelsea move, but the Blues soon regretted letting him go and they re-signed him three years later for five times that amount.
Arguably the best defensive midfielder in the Premier League in his pomp, winning two league titles in 2015 and 2017. Mourinho liked him so much he subsequently signed the left-footed Serb for Manchester United and Roma.
#FridayFeeling brought to you by Nemanja Matic (and @KurtZouma 😉) pic.twitter.com/T9AL4hXzhw
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) May 26, 2017
Tiago (for €15m in 2004)
Tiago was the first player to make the move from Benfica to Chelsea, part of Mourinho’s Portuguese revolution in 2004 that also saw Ricardo Carvalho and Paulo Ferreira join from Porto.
A Portugal international midfielder, he wasn’t as heralded as the likes of Didier Drogba and Arjen Robben, but Tiago shone brightly in his single full season at Stamford Bridge, and has the lowest loss percentage of any Chelsea player to have played at least 20 games at 2.94 per cent.
Honourable mentions
Scott Minto is the only player to have made the move in the opposite direction, the left-back moving to Benfica on a free transfer in 1997 before returning to English football with West Ham two years later.
Maniche, Mario Stanic and Emerson Thome also played for Benfica and later Chelsea, but each of them had other clubs in between.