Enzo Fernandez is expected to join his Chelsea team-mates on the pre-season tour of the US later this month, and only then will the club find out how well his apology for his behaviour has been received.
New manager Enzo Maresca has only been at the training ground for a couple of weeks and is already facing the first major test of his coaching skills. Welcome to Chelsea, no doubt about it.
According to a source close to a high-ranking player, speaking anonymously with The athletic To protect relations, Fernandez explained before the live broadcast, the start of Maresca’s regime could not have gone much better. Team members who did not participate in international tournaments began reporting for duty on July 4 and feedback from the Italian’s sessions has been very positive. The mood has been good.
That was until Fernandez live-streamed a video of himself and some of his Argentina teammates singing what the French Football Federation (FFF) has labelled a “racist and discriminatory song” after Argentina’s Copa America final win over Colombia on Sunday night. The FFF says it plans to lodge a legal complaint with FIFA, and understandably so. The lyrics are offensive, mock the backgrounds of French players and also have an element of transphobia.
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The video went viral for all the wrong reasons and the anger was not expressed solely by the FFF. Fernandez’s actions were seen by his Chelsea colleagues and the reaction was bad. “A lot of people were really angry,” says one person close to a senior player. “They were asking themselves: ‘Why would he do that?’
Fernandez celebrates Argentina’s Copa America victory (Juan Mabromata/AFP via Getty Images)
“There has always been great unity in the team and the club just needed the right 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’s surroundings described the situation as even more dire, with the camp initially having been “fractured.”
A sign of the anger caused came on Tuesday when Chelsea’s French players unfollowed Fernandez en masse on Instagram. One player, defender Wesley Fofana, posted a clip of Fernandez’s X-rated video with the caption “Football in 2024: Uninhibited racism.” Fofana’s account was subject to a barrage of racist abuse.
Chelsea promised to investigate the incident on Tuesday afternoon, part of which included establishing that the video was genuine. Fernandez is on holiday after the Copa America, so was not with the club (and therefore could not be spoken to in person immediately), but on Tuesday evening UK time he issued a statement of regret. “I want to apologise for a video posted on my Instagram channel during the national team celebrations,” he wrote.
“The song contains extremely offensive language and there is no excuse for those words. I oppose discrimination in all its forms and I apologize for having been carried away by the euphoria of our Copa America celebrations. That video, that moment, those words, do not reflect my beliefs or my character. I am truly sorry.”
On Wednesday morning UK time, Chelsea issued a statement of their own: “Chelsea Football Club believes that all forms of discriminatory behaviour are completely unacceptable. We are proud to be 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 educate. The club has initiated an internal disciplinary procedure.”
Fernandez has since contacted all of his teammates to express his regret for what he has done.
Chelsea’s Senegalese international Nicolas Jackson also posted a photo on his Instagram account, which featured two images of Fernandez. One was a picture 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 travel for pre-season training next week (Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
Perhaps an indication that things have not progressed as smoothly as Chelsea might have hoped was provided by striker David Datro Fofana following Wesley Fofana’s dismay at developments on 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 all those involved in this sport.”
So what happens now? Fernandez’s holiday might help calm the situation for the moment, but the issue is sure to come up again if, as expected, he flies to the United States to join up with the Chelsea squad, which leaves for the pre-season tour on Monday of the following week. A person familiar with the team’s entourage told The athletic who consider that some form of mediation will still be necessary.
Fernandez, who cost £106m ($135m) when he joined from Benfica 18 months ago and is under contract until 2032, is clearly regarded as one of Chelsea’s key players. But his actions have also created a problem for Maresca, who is yet to speak to the media since taking over. Inevitably, the Italian will have questions to answer about that for the foreseeable future and the player’s bond with his colleagues, not to mention his form, will now be under closer scrutiny than ever.
(Top photo: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)