Enzo Fernández has been dropped for Chelsea’s next two games, with Liam Rosenior suggesting the club’s vice-captain had “crossed a line” in recent comments over his future.
Following what he described as the worst 10 days of his career, Rosenior insisted he had to punish Fernández, who first questioned whether he would remain at Stamford Bridge beyond this season and then suggested he would like to live in Madrid – a comment widely viewed as courting a move to Real Madrid, a club with which he has frequently been linked.
While he will still train with Chelsea’s first-team squad, Fernández will not be available for Saturday’s FA Cup quarter-final against Port Vale nor next Sunday’s Premier League match against Manchester City.
“For Enzo, it’s disappointing to speak in that way,” said Rosenior. “What I will say about Enzo is in terms of him as a character, as a person, I’ve got no bad words to say about him. But I think a line was crossed in terms of our culture and what we want to build. So we had to make a sanction and that was a decision we’ve made. The door is not closed on Enzo. That’s very important. It’s a sanction. You have to protect that culture. I think in terms of that, the line was crossed in the international break.”
Fernández joined Chelsea from Benfica for what was then a British record fee of £107m in January 2023. Asked whether he believed the Argentinian continues to see his future at the club, Rosenior said: “I can’t speak for him.”
His agent, Javier Pastore, did respond to the sanction, calling it “completely unfair”. Talking to the Athletiche said: “The punishment is completely unfair – banning the player for two matches, which moreover are also absolutely crucial for Chelsea because qualification for the Champions League is at stake and he is one of the team’s most important players.
“He only mentions Madrid, the city, because he was asked which European city he’d like to live in one day, and he said Madrid because of the language, because it’s similar to Buenos Aires and because it’s logical – it’s only natural for an Argentine to say that – and also because of the culture, the weather … but at no point does he say he wants to leave Chelsea or London.”
Fernández was not alone in courting controversy during the international break. Marc Cucurella used an interview to criticise the decision to sack Rosenior’s immediate predecessor, Enzo Maresca, and suggested he would be open to a return to his former club Barcelona. Rosenior confirmed he had spoken to the Spaniard and urged him to air any grievances directly. “Marc is fully committed,” he said. “He wants to be here. He’s made that very, very clear to me.”
Chelsea lost four successive matches before the international break, exiting the Champions League in a bruising 8-2 aggregate defeat by Paris Saint-Germain during a period Rosenior described as “the most difficult 10 days of my career as a player or a coach”.
Despite Fernández’s and Cucurella’s comments, the head coach insisted there remains a sense of unity. “I’ll make this very, very clear – there is not a rift in the dressing room,” he said.
“There’s not a group of players who are not speaking to another group of players. We are together. We go through, and every club goes through, difficult moments in the season. We had a very, very difficult 10 days as a football club in terms of the results, in terms of being out of the Champions League.
“Now’s the time for us to come together, back from the international break, and make sure we commit and perform in the manner that we need to.”
Defending his record since taking charge in January, Rosenior added: “There is a perception at the moment that is not reflecting reality. My record in the Premier League since I joined the club, we are fourth in the league [in the form table].
“There is a noise around the football club that we are in crisis, that I am out of my depth, that I talk nonsense. It doesn’t affect what is inside of here and that is what the players need to know as well.”
Rosenior also hinted further players will follow Reece James, the club captain, in soon committing themselves to Chelsea by signing new contracts: “You’ll see what happens in the next couple of weeks in terms of the commitment of the players to this project.”
James, Trevoh Chalobah and Levi Colwill remain out for Port Vale’s visit, but Estêvão and Jamie Gittens are available after injuries.
