‘Not acceptable’: Liverpool-linked 21-year-old faces ‘consequences’ at his club

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Benfica manager Roger Schmidt confirms that Enzo Fernández will face ‘consequences’ for his actions. Liverpool reportedly want the player.

Benfica’s Roger Schmidt gave a fairly explosive response to a question about Enzo Fernández on Thursday. The Argentine midfielder has been at the centre of a transfer battle since his superb World Cup.

Winning the tournament and finishing with the Best Young Player award, teams were always going to lineup for Enzo. Chelsea appeared to head the pack, too, but things took a turn there.

But Enzo clearly expected to leave Benfica. So much so that he actually went AWOL, heading to Argentina without permission from his club. Schmidt confirmed in his press conference that he would face ‘consequences’ for that.

“He was not here last week, he had no permission to go to Argentina,” said Schmidt. “He missed training, so that’s not acceptable.

“That’s why he will have consequences. I will not announce them now.”

Benfica to punish Enzo Fernández

It now looks unlikely that Enzo will leave Benfica in January. Schmidt essentially explained why in the same press conference.

“The second point is that Enzo, we don’t want to sell him,” he said. “Nobody wants to sell him at this club. Not me, the president, not anybody.

“Everybody knows he has a clause in his contract. If the player wants to leave and somebody pays the clause, obviously, we can’t work against that and we will lose the player.”

Liverpool are one of those who could take advantage of that. Marca and O Jogo both name the Reds as very interested in Enzo but it’s a summer transfer that’s far more likely.

Benfica seem confident of keeping him until then, given it seems improbable that someone will pay his £103m release clause. Liverpool could try to use a messy situation to their benefit.