Enzo Fernandez has issued a personal apology to his Chelsea team-mates after joining the club’s pre-season tour on Monday .
Fernandez was accused of ‘uninhibited racism’ by Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana and unfollowed on social media by a number of other players after he livestreamed an offensive song from Argentina’s team bus after their Copa America final win over Colombia.
The midfielder apologised via social media and privately a few weeks ago but this was the first opportunity to say sorry face-to-face.
As part of his bid to express remorse, Fernandez has told the club he wants to make a sizeable donation to an anti-discrimination charity and Chelsea intend to match it via their foundation.
Fernandez took part in his first training session in Atlanta on Monday and had lunch with all his teammates. Among the players to help mediate over the situation were Reece James and Axel Disasi.
The chant followed Argentina’s Copa America win (Omar Vega/Getty Images)
The midfielder previously apologised in public with a post on social media. “The song includes highly offensive language and there is absolutely no excuse for these words,” the 23-year-old said.
Argentina defeated France in a penalty shootout in the 2022 World Cup final, with some fans of the South American side at that tournament singing a chant ahead of that match referencing how many France players were of African heritage and were first- or second-generation immigrants in the European nation.
The words to the chant were: “They play for France, but their parents are from Angola. Their mother is from Cameroon, while their father is from Nigeria. But their passport says French.”
Fofana, a Black France international, posted a video of the incident on social accompanied with the caption: “Football in 2024: uninhibited racism”. His message was met with racist replies from users on X and Instagram.
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Speaking last week new head coach Enzo Maresca said he was not concerned over any possible split in the camp.
When asked if he thought there could be any difficulties, he replied: “I don’t think so to be honest. At the end, they are all human beings. There is no bad intention from any one of them. I don’t think when Enzo is back, we will have any problems. The player and club clarified the situation.
“It’s great the player did the statement to apologise. The club did the same. There is not something to add to the situation. It’s clear and clarified.”
James, who was captain under former head coach Mauricio Pochettino last season, said last week he hoped everyone could move on.
He added: “It’s obviously a really difficult situation. I think Enzo (Fernandez) quickly acknowledged he did wrong, put his hand up and apologised to the club, the team and the people offended.
“I have spoken to Enzo and everyone involved but those conversations have to stay in house. He hasn’t arrived yet so I don’t know if there is anything to amend. I hope everyone will be on the same page and we can move on from the situation.”
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(Photo: Glyn Kirk/AFP via Getty Images)
