The story of how Enzo Fernandez nearly joined Wolves last summer

Enzo Fernandez will attempt to deepen Wolves' relegation worries when Chelsea meet Julen Lopetegui's side on Saturday but few realise how close the Argentine star came to moving to Molineux last summer.

Fernandez's rise has been spectacular. River Plate to Benfica for £12.3million in July 2022. World Cup winner and young player of the tournament in December. British record £106m transfer to Chelsea in January.

The fee paid by Chelsea brought out a few wistful smiles on the first floor of Wolves' training ground at Compton, on the outskirts of Wolverhampton, where the club's senior executives have their offices.

As Fernandez was presented as a Chelsea player, their minds returned to last July and a dash to Buenos Aires that so nearly ended with Wolves landing one of the world's finest young talents.

Wolves' recruitment team had been following Fernandez since he was on loan from River at Defensa y Justicia, a relatively small club in the capital city's southern suburb of Florencio Varela. This tenacious midfielder, whose every pass seemed to ask a question of the opposition, was certainly worth keeping an eye on.

Because of their close links with Jorge Mendes' Gestifute agency, who also have a strong relationship with Benfica, Wolves became aware at the start of pre-season that Benfica were about to close a deal.

With the blessing of chairman Jeff Shi, Matt Hobbs – now Wolves' sporting director but then head of recruitment – caught a plane to Buenos Aires. Having spoken to River in advance, Hobbs met their senior staff at River's headquarters. It became apparent quickly that the transfer fee was not going to be the problem.

River chiefs explained that they had already given their word to Benfica that they would sell Fernandez to them, and they believed the player had his heart set on the move, too.

But out of courtesy, they agreed to pass on Wolves' message and if Fernandez wanted to hear what the Premier League club had to say, he would be in touch. As it turned out, he did. That evening, Fernandez and an advisor met Hobbs for dinner.

The encounter was doubly awkward because Benfica officials were staying in a hotel near the Wolves delegation in central Buenos Aires, and the Portuguese had been promised a response from Fernandez the following day. No wonder Fernandez's advisor received several anxious phone calls and messages that evening.

Over the course of three-and-a-half-hours, Fernandez and the Wolves contingent, which included a Spanish speaker, dined on prime cuts of steak and talked football. Hobbs delivered a detailed presentation of how Fernandez would become the linchpin of the Wolves side under then-boss Bruno Lage.

Though Wolves were not competing in the Champions League like Benfica, Fernandez was attracted by the idea of playing in one of Europe's top-five leagues.

He was impressed by the presentation, as were Wolves by Fernandez's manner and maturity. When they called it a night, Wolves thought they were in with a genuine chance.

However, the following morning brought the phone call Wolves had always feared. There would be no Argentine starlet in the Old Gold for the season ahead. Despite Wolves' best efforts, Fernandez would be going to Lisbon.

If they failed, it was not because Wolves had fallen short with their pitch. After sleeping on it, Fernandez, in conjunction with River, decided that the deal with Benfica was simply too far down the line to go back on. Wolves had come so close but left Argentina empty-handed.

At least Wolves can console themselves by recalling that they finished on the right side of a similar negotiation in January.

Wolves thought they had a deal with Brazilian giants Flamengo for midfielder Joao Gomes, only for Flamengo to accept a better offer from Lyon.

Yet Gomes' idea had always been to move to Wolves and so he did, for £13m. Lyon owner John Textor even sent Wolves a good-humoured tweet when the transfer was complete.

But Wolves' recruitment staff will forever wonder what might have been, and it would be strange if they did not. Stopping Fernandez this weekend would go some way to assuaging the sore.