Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez has become a focal point of unrest inside Chelsea following public comments about Real Madrid and his future.<\/p>\n
Sources say prolonged contract talks stalled and a mid-March report from Argentina that the midfielder was open to leaving Chelsea intensified tensions. In the aftermath of Chelsea\u2019s humiliating Champions League elimination, Fern\u00e1ndez publicly refused to rule out an exit with the delightfully cryptic response of \u201cwe\u2019ll see. \u201d He pledged his commitment to Chelsea just a few days later after a negative reaction from fans, but reports say he then resumed publicly flirting with Madrid.<\/p>\n
Fern\u00e1ndez has also questioned the decision to part ways with manager Enzo Maresca in January and, during the international break, is said to have twice mentioned a desire to live in the city of Madrid without naming any club. In an interview with LUZU TV in his native Argentina, Fern\u00e1ndez name-dropped Luka Modri\u0107 and Toni Kroos as inspirations, a comment whose timing has been questioned inside the squad.<\/p>\n
Those inside the dressing room have reportedly been disturbed by what they see as a player of significance casting doubt over his own future. The same reports add Fern\u00e1ndez has grown more vocal during a run of defeats, openly berating teammates on the pitch and failing to hide his anger once the cameras are off.<\/p>\n
A notable episode came after a mistake by goalkeeper Filip J\u00f6rgensen against Paris Saint-Germain, which drew an on-field outburst from Fern\u00e1ndez. Former teammates, including Mason Mount and Noni Madueke, have been targeted by on-field taunts and hot-headed moments from Chelsea\u2019s vice-captain. Several within the squad believe those incidents have done more to unsettle the club than the conduct of others.<\/p>\n
Mikel John Obi addressed the situation on his Obi One Podcast and did not hold back: “That\u2019s not a leader,” he fumed. “That\u2019s something where if you have leaders, if you have leaders that players respect and look up to, you wouldn\u2019t come out and make those statements because you\u2019d be thinking, \u2018How is this going to go down in the dressing room? How is this going to go down with the top players, the big players, when they see this?’<\/p>\n
“You were the captain in that game and you come out and make those statements … how would that go down well with the senior players in the dressing room?<\/p>\n
“He\u2019s looked at it and he\u2019s thinking, \u2018Who the f— is going to hold me responsible in that dressing room?\u2019 No one! The leadership is not there.<\/p>\n
“So he thinks, \u2018I can come out, say whatever the f— I want, no one is going to hold me responsible,\u2019 and that\u2019s exactly what happened.<\/p>\n
“For him to come out and make such a statement after we\u2019ve been disgracefully dumped out of the Champions League, and you come out after wearing the captain\u2019s armband … no player is bigger than the football club.<\/p>\n
“If he\u2019s had enough, put your hands up, f— off and we move on. We move on. No player is bigger than the football club, especially a club as huge as Chelsea.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Comments by Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez have reportedly strained Chelsea’s dressing room and prompted criticisms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":10517,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[190,1383],"tags":[1505,1006,1047],"class_list":["post-10518","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-chelsea","category-chelsea-news","tag-accountability","tag-captaincy","tag-champions-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}