Liam Rosenior Reveals ‘Serious Meeting’ to Decide Enzo Fernandez’s Chelsea Future

The Blues banned their vice-captain from playing in two matches.

Enzo Fernández remains suspended by Chelsea. | Visionhaus/Getty Images

Chelsea will not walk back on the decision to ban Enzo Fernández for Sunday’s huge Premier League clash with Manchester City, manager Liam Rosenior has confirmed.

The Blues internally suspended Fernández last week following comments expressing both his desire to live in Madrid and admiration for Real Madrid legends Toni Kroos and Luka Modrić, against a soundtrack of existing transfer speculation. Rosenior considered it a line that was “crossed.”

Fernández’s agent, Javier Pastore, initially called it “completely unfair” but has also since apologized after admitting the player was “wrong” to say what he did. Still, the door to a transfer is being left ajar.

Having sat out last weekend’s FA Cup thrashing of Port Vale, Fernández remains suspended. Chelsea easily navigated a match against an EFL club without him, but facing Manchester City and keeping the 2022 World Cup winner out of the team shows a dedication to upholding discipline.

With Reece James injured, Fernández would have captained Chelsea, too.

“I, and we, want Enzo to go and have an amazing career. He won’t play on Sunday but hopefully he will be part of the group going forward,” Rosenior confirmed at press conference on Friday.

The manager explained there have been several “really good chats” between himself and Fernández, who has also apologized to both Rosenior and the wider club.

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Fernández Reprieve Not Guaranteed

Liam Rosenior took a hardline stand. | Chelsea FCGetty Images

Despite serving the initial two-game internal suspension and apologizing, there are no guarantees at this point that Fernández will go back into the Chelsea lineup after the weekend’s match.

“We’ll deal with that after a massive game on Sunday. It’s a serious meeting about something serious. I’m not questioning his character or who he is as a person but I believe people make mistakes and you can’t overstep the punishment for the mistake.

“There’s a few obstacles we still need to get through but I won’t go into that.”

If Fernández and Rosenior can’t hash things out, it puts everyone in an awkward position.

Chelsea are potentially stuck with a sulking asset who remains under contract but can’t play. Rosenior has to front a decision to banish a senior player and hope the front office executives and owners back him, and Fernández is left having to find a new club with only shaky leads.

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Uncertainty Over Where Fernández Could Go

Which clubs could Fernández actually sign for? | Tnani Badreddine/DeFodi Images/Getty Images

Paris Saint-Germain, where Pastore used to play, and Real Madrid are the team’s most spoken about. But it’s not as simple as just joining one or the other. Whether either would actually be interested when it really gets down to it is far from clear at this stage.

It feels unlikely that Fernández’s recent behavior would sit well with this version of PSG, having deliberately avoided players whose egos require their own seat in the dressing room and enjoying previously elusive success because of that change in strategy.

Real Madrid, even with a status as the biggest club in the world, cannot so easily drop a huge sum on one player in the transfer market this summer. The budget has strict limits, partly explaining why Florentino Pérez was the last one still clinging to the now dead European Super League. Fernández isn’t even a generational talent like Jude Bellingham or Kylian Mbappé—the latter was technically a ‘free transfer’ but enormous salary and bonuses make him anything but.

The squad as it sits needs considerable strengthening in a number of positions if Los Blancos are return to the pinnacle of Spanish and European soccer any time soon. And while Manchester City’s Rodri is older than Fernández, the Spaniard is a cheaper alternative and better fit.

Outside Real Madrid, the club the Argentine has been openly pining for, and PSG, options he might consider better than Chelsea are suddenly very scarce. Nowhere else in England is realistic, the money isn’t there in Serie A and Barcelona still operate under severe financial limitations.

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