Benfica have released a statement hitting out at 'totally false' quotes attributed to club president Rui Costa about the January sale of midfielder Enzo Fernandez.
Costa was quoted as saying that Benfica, while determined not to sell Fernandez in January, would happily agree to a sale if one of his many suitors - including Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United - triggered his €120m release clause.
Now, however, Benfica have insisted that Costa did not make such comments and they have been falsely attributed to him.
“SL Benfica clarifies that at no time did the President of the Club, Rui Costa, utter the words that are being disseminated in Italy by DAZN," a statement read.
“Sport Lisboa e Benfica reiterates its intention to count on the player Enzo Fernandez until the end of the season.”
O Jogo later reported that a club source had described the quotes as 'totally false'.
That being said, the alleged quotes do describe the situation in which Benfica find themselves. They are determined not to sell Fernandez but would be powerless to prevent the World Cup winner from speaking to any club who offered to trigger his €120m release clause in its entirety.
90min understands that Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United have all held talks with Benfica over a deal but have all been warned that there will be no negotiating in January and only the full payment of his release clause will be accepted.
Source : 90min