Chelsea star Enzo Fernandez remains out of lineup despite apology to team

LONDON (AP) — Enzo Fernandez’s immediate future at Chelsea remains up in the air.

The Argentina midfielder apologized for saying he wants to live in Madrid, but Chelsea manager Liam Rosenior confirmed Friday the player’s internal two-game ban stands and that Fernandez still has “a few hurdles” to overcome.

The 25-year-old Fernandez sat out Chelsea’s 7-0 win over Port Vale in the FA Cup quarterfinals last weekend and will be kept out of Sunday’s Premier League game against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge.

“He won’t play on Sunday but, hopefully, after that, he’ll be a massive part of the group moving forward,” Rosenior said at a press conference.

“There’s still a few hurdles that need to be overcome that I won’t go into, but at the same time I want every player really, really focused now on a huge run-in.”

The World Cup-winning playmaker was disciplined for saying on a podcast that he would like to live in Madrid — amid speculation of a move to Real Madrid.

“He’s apologized to me, he’s apologized to the club, and we’ll deal with that after a massive game on Sunday,” said Rosenior, who was hired in January. “I’m not questioning Enzo’s character, I’m not questioning who he is as a person. I believe people make mistakes. You can’t overstep the punishment for the mistake.”

Rosenior continued: “We’ve made a sanction, we made a decision, I made a decision. What I want for Enzo is for him to go on here and have an outstanding career.”

Chelsea is in sixth place and fighting for a Champions League spot with seven games left in the season.

“Football is a team sport, it’s not about individuals,” Rosenior said. “There are certain values and cultures that I believe in, that this club believes that makes the team stronger if you get that right.”

Fernandez joined Chelsea from Benfica for a then-British record fee of 107 million pounds ($143 million) in early 2023.

___

AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer