Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior has confirmed Enzo Fernandez will miss their crunch Premier League clash with Man City on Sunday, despite flirting with Real Madrid during the international break.
Interviews conducted by Fernandez while away with the Argentina national team led to Chelsea imposing a two-game ban on their vice-captain as they believed his comments crossed a line.
Fernandez’s agent Javier Pastore said earlier this week that he had apologised to the club.
The apology has not changed Chelsea’s stance on their internal sanction, with Fernandez still set to sit out the match against Man City, as he also did last week in the FA Cup against Port Vale last weekend.
‘I had a really good conversation – three or four with Enzo,’ Rosenior said. ‘He’s apologised to me and to the club, and we’ll deal with that after a massive game on Sunday.
‘It’s a serious meeting about something very serious.
‘Enzo, every single step on the way, I’ve not been questioning his character, or who he is as a person. I believe people make mistakes.’
Pastore had initially blasted Chelsea’s punishment as ‘completely unfair’ and suggested they will ‘explore’ a summer move if the Blues do not hand his client a new deal.
However, Pastore has backtracked on those comments in another interview, conducted with French football website Top Mercato at Fedex’s Move Like A Pro event, in which he said: ‘We made peace yesterday and the day before between Chelsea and the player. There was never really a problem.
‘We have cleared things up. What happened, happened. We explained to the player that, even if he did nothing wrong, he should not have said that.
‘He is only 25 years old. He is still young and still has things to learn. We explained to the club that he said it without any malice and that he was wrong to do so.
‘He naturally apologised to the club, his team-mates, the manager, the sporting director – everyone. We are all on the same page. It was simply a matter of clearing up a misunderstanding.’
Fernandez, 25, is contracted to Chelsea until 2032. He had used the international break to reveal how much he would love to live in Madrid while hailing Real legends Toni Kroos and Luka Modric.
This followed him previously admitting he does not know if he will still be with Chelsea beyond this summer and criticising the club for splitting with his former manager, Enzo Maresca.
