Enzo Fernandez is set to join his Chelsea team-mates on their pre-season tour of the United States later this month – and only then will the club find out how far the apology over his behaviour has been received.
New coach Enzo Maresca has only been on the pitch for a few weeks and already faces the first significant test of his man-management abilities. Welcome to Chelsea, indeed.
As a source close to a senior player speaking anonymously told The Athletic Before Fernandez’s live broadcast, the start of Maresca’s regime could not have gone much better. The squad members who were not involved in international tournaments began reporting for duty on July 4 and the feedback from the Italian’s sessions was very positive. The mood was good.
That was until Fernandez live-streamed a video of himself and some of his Argentina teammates singing what the French Football Federation (FFF) called a “racist and discriminatory song” after Argentina’s Copa America final win over Colombia on Sunday night. The FFF said it planned to file a complaint with FIFA, which is understandable. The lyrics are offensive, mocking the French players’ backgrounds, and also contain an element of transphobia for good measure.
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The video went viral for the wrong reasons and the anger was not just expressed by the FFF. Fernandez’s actions were seen by his Chelsea colleagues and the reaction was bad. “A lot of people were really angry,” said one person close to a senior player. “They were asking themselves: ‘Why would he do that?'”
Fernandez celebrates Argentina’s Copa America triumph (Juan Mabromata/AFP via Getty Images)
“There has always been a strong cohesion in the team and the club just needed a good coach to make it work. But this incident has changed that. It will be interesting to see what happens when Fernandez returns to the club.” Another person familiar with the team described the situation as even more dire, with the camp initially “fractured”.
The scandal was illustrated by the mass unsubscription of Fernandez from Instagram by Chelsea’s French players on Tuesday. One of them, defender Wesley Fofana, then posted an extract from Fernandez’s video on X with the caption “Football in 2024: uninhibited racism”. Fofana’s account was then the target of numerous racist insults.
Chelsea promised to investigate the incident on Tuesday afternoon, including to establish the authenticity of the video. Fernandez is on holiday after the Copa America and was therefore not with the club (and could not immediately be contacted in person), but late on Tuesday night UK time he issued a statement of contrition. “I would like to apologise for a video posted on my Instagram channel during the national team celebrations,” he wrote.
“The song contains very offensive language and there is absolutely no excuse for these words. I oppose discrimination in all its forms and apologize for getting caught up in the euphoria of our Copa America celebrations. This video, this moment, these words, do not reflect my beliefs or my character. I am sincerely sorry.”
On Wednesday morning UK time, Chelsea released their own statement. “Chelsea Football Club believes that any form of discriminatory behaviour is completely unacceptable. We pride ourselves on being a diverse and inclusive club where people from all cultures, communities and identities feel welcome.
“We acknowledge and appreciate our player’s public apology and will take this opportunity to raise awareness. The club has launched an internal disciplinary procedure.”
Fernandez has since contacted all of his teammates to express his remorse for what he did.
Chelsea’s Senegal international Nicolas Jackson also posted a photo on his Instagram account showing two images of Fernandez. One was a photo of him sitting with the midfielder, the other was a short clip of the 23-year-old interacting with a young black fan in the past. He captioned it “Enzo Fernandez and this young fan”. The post has since been deleted.
Maresca and his players will travel for pre-season next week (Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
Perhaps an indication that things have not progressed as smoothly as Chelsea had hoped was provided by striker David Datro Fofana, who followed Wesley Fofana in expressing his dismay at the events of Wednesday afternoon.
“The football I love is multi-ethnic,” he wrote on his Instagram account. “Racism in all its forms must be condemned in the strongest possible terms. These acts have no place in football or anywhere else. This fight must be taken seriously by everyone involved in the sport.”
So what now? Fernandez’s holiday might help to ease the situation for now, but the issue will surely come to the fore again if, as expected, he flies to the United States to join the Chelsea squad, which leaves for its pre-season tour on Monday the following week. A person familiar with the team said: The Athletic that they believe that some form of mediation will still have to take place.
Fernandez, who cost £106m when he arrived from Benfica 18 months ago and is contracted until 2032, is clearly seen as one of Chelsea’s key players. But his actions have also created a problem for Maresca, who has yet to speak to the media since taking over. Inevitably, the Italian will have questions to answer about this in the near future and the player’s bond with his colleagues, not to mention his form, will now be more scrutinised than ever.
(Top photo: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
News Source : www.nytimes.com
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