- Chelsea midfielder Enzo Fernandez sparked a racism storm earlier this month
- He filmed himself signing a controversial chant before apologising
- He has now been pictured for the first time back at Chelsea since his apology
Enzo Fernandez has been pictured for the first time back with his Chelsea team-mates after apologising for sparking a racism storm.
Fernandez filmed himself singing a controversial song aimed at France’s black players after Argentina’s Copa America triumph earlier this month, leading to several members of Chelsea’s squad unfollowing him on Instagram.
He subsequently apologised on social media and has since addressed his team-mates personally while also pledging to make a charity donation, after joining up with the squad on their pre-season tour of the US.
Chelsea have now released pictures of Fernandez on their official X account showing the Argentine midfielder relaxing in a pool.
With Fernandez showing off his array of tattoos, the picture appears to show him in positive spirits and is captioned ‘With the squad’ alongside a fist bump emoji.
Enzo Fernandez has been pictured for the first time with his Chelsea team-mates after sparking a racism storm
He was seen relaxing in a pool on the club’s pre-season tour of the US
Chelsea captioned the pair of pictures on their X account: ‘With the squad’
Fernandez sparked the racism storm by filming himself signing a chant with his Argentina team-mates aimed at France’s black players
Fernandez’s actions sparked outrage, with team-mate Wesley Fofana labelling the chant ‘uninhibited racism’.
The French Football Federation was also disgusted as they released a statement which read: ‘Faced with the seriousness of these shocking remarks, contrary to the values of sport and human rights, the president of the FFF decided to directly challenge his Argentine counterpart and FIFA and to file a legal complaint for insulting remarks of a racial and discriminatory nature.’
The song chanted by Fernandez and his Argentine team-mates dates back to the 2022 World Cup final in which Argentina beat France, with lyrics describing how French players are ‘from Angola’ or have a ‘Nigerian’ mother and a ‘Cameroonian’ father.
The chant had threatened to cause a split in the Chelsea squad, with Fofana, Malo Gusto and Axel Disasi unfollowing Fernandez on social media, while Nicolas Jackson showed his support to the £107m midfielder by posting a bizarre video of Fernandez playing with a black child.
But new Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca insisted he did not expect there to be an issue in the dressing room once Fernandez returned from his summer break following his apology.
Enzo Maresca was confident Fernandez’s behaviour would not split the dressing room, and the Argentine has now returned to the club after his summer break
And the 23-year-old now appears to have settled back into life at the club just weeks on from the controversial video.
He could return to the pitch in the coming days when Chelsea take on Club America, Manchester City and Real Madrid to conclude their US trip.
They then have a friendly back at Stamford Bridge against Inter Milan before beginning their Premier League campaign against City on August 18.
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