Benfica sold Enzo Fernandez for a British record transfer fee in January but are looking within their ranks to fill the gap in their midfield as the Champions League returns.

The Portuguese side have always shown an impressive capacity for recovery after losing star players and are already finding their feet without the Argentine World Cup winner.

Benfica, five points clear of Porto at the top of the Portuguese league, visit surprise package Club Brugge in the last 16 of Europe’s premier club competition on Wednesday with high hopes despite Fernandez’s departure.

Handed a tough group featuring Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus, Benfica went unbeaten and finished top to reach the knock-out rounds, with the Italian giants — the two-time winners of the competition — eliminated.

Fernandez played a key role in that progress but departed for Stamford Bridge in exchange for a stratospheric fee of 121 million euros ($129 million) on the last day of the January transfer window, just six months after making his debut for Benfica.

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