In what feels like a fairly unprecedented overreaction, Chelsea have decided to suspend Enzo Fernández for saying that he’d prefer to live in Madrid over London, after also recently casting doubt over his long-term future with a classic “we’ll see”.
Enzo’s hardly the first player in professional football history to say things like that, but apparently we’ve deemed this as crossing the line. (Then again, we hounded Enzo Maresca out of the club for daring to talk to another club, and effectively scuppering
our season, so at least we’re consistent?)
Company man Liam Rosenior confirmed the news in today’s press conference.
As a football club, with me as part of that process, we’ve made a decision. He won’t be available for tomorrow’s game and he won’t be available for Manchester City on Sunday. I think for Enzo, it’s disappointing to speak in that way. 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.
[…] I feel like not just the comments from Enzo, but Cucu’s interview as well stems from that. It actually stems from a good place where they want to do well. They want the club to succeed. But in those moments, I think we need more emotional stability as a group of players, from me as the head coach, as a football club, so that we don’t respond in the way we have done to the setbacks we’ve had.
[We] are aligned in every decision that we make. So it was a joint decision. I’m saying that the door is not closed on Enzo. That’s very important. It’s a sanction. You have to protect, especially this football club, it’s a winning football club with traditions of success. You have to protect that culture. I think in terms of that, the line was crossed in the international break.
[…] My disappointment in Marc’s interview is where it went to. I think he should have spoken to us first about the things that he’s feeling. I want players to feel like they can speak openly and honestly for the benefit of the football club. Those conversations we’ve had with Reece James, that’s why Reece has signed a new contract, because he believes in where we’re going. As a football club, we know we need to improve, myself included. We actually know what we’re going to do in the summer to achieve those objectives.
[But] that’s a separate case. And Marc is available and will be involved in the game tomorrow.
-Liam Rosenior; source: Football.London
So one rule for one and another rule for another one? Well done.
Enzo probably wouldn’t have played against Port Vale anyway, but he will very much be missed against Manchester City. We might recall he even scored our late equalizer in the reverse fixture.
But then, even once he returns, it’s hard to see how this suspension will prove beneficial in this situation. It certainly won’t make Enzo want to stay any more, nor will it raise his transfer value. Contract extension negotiations already fell through once and this now just further exposes the fatal flaw in our Galaxy BlueCo Brain wage structure.
Agents gonna always agent, but player-turned-agitator Javier Pastore is only laying the blueprint for other high-performers to follow.
Enzo didn’t understand the situation. When the coach told him, he accepted it because he’s a highly professional guy who’s always fully committed wherever he is and respects decisions, but we don’t understand the punishment because he doesn’t mention any club or say he wants to leave Chelsea, far from it; 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 […] at no point did he show a lack of respect towards the club, his team-mates, the fans or anyone else.
[Yes] we started discussing [a new contract] around December or January, but we couldn’t reach an agreement. As Enzo’s contract still has six years to run, we decided not to renew it because the terms weren’t right for us or for the player; given what Enzo is capable of today, he deserves much more than he’s currently earning.We haven’t reached an agreement and it may be that this annoyed the club, given that he is a hugely important player, but these are things that have to be managed. […] Our plan after the World Cup is to meet with Chelsea again and, if there is no agreement, to explore other options.
-Javier Pastore; source: The Athletic
Seems pretty clear that Enzo’s gone after the season. The repercussions may be much bigger than just his departure.
