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When Enzo Fernandez was handed the Chelsea armband, there was no notable reaction from the rest of the squad, which was partly why manager Enzo Maresca probably felt the matter was closed. The new Italian manager thought it simply wasn’t worth expanding when asked after the 2-0 defeat to Manchester City whether he should have given Fernandez the captaincy.
This was of course after Fernandez had to apologise to Chelsea teammates after being caught on video chanting racist and homophobic slurs against members of the French team amid Argentina’s Copa America celebrations. Maresca pointed to how Fernandez already had the role in the summer.
“I can see his teammates recognise him like a captain,” the manager said. “He is already captain in pre-season. When we make a mistake it is important to recognise. Enzo did and, at the end, it is finished.”
Maresca continued: “I did mistakes in the past and I recognise, and I think, if as a human being you make a mistake and recognise, you are not going to be punished for life.”
That can all be true but the core issue with this controversy is that it doesn’t follow that you should immediately make a player involved in such a story one of the most responsible roles in a club. Club captain might not be quite what it was, and this status might only be temporary for Fernandez – first-choice captain Reece James is injured – but it still carries a weight. It is quite a statement for Maresca’s first game. It’s also why his comments sound tone-deaf, with the decision blind to bigger implications.
That’s before you even get to the fact Fernandez is still the subject of a Fifa investigation over the incident, and that in itself should have precluded him from the role. For some that is partly about image, this was at best a short-sighted and clumsy decision.
It’s also why it isn’t really relevant how the Chelsea squad feel about this. Even if you take it on those terms alone, it is actually rare – arguably unprecedented – that a player has been made captain so quickly after having to apologise to teammates over a controversy. It has possibly never happened in football in this way. That alone made this surprising but, although there have been no known misgivings among the squad, this is really about something bigger.
Chelsea are a club who have done a lot of important and immensely admirable anti-racism work over the past two decades, and even the kit Fernandez wore on Sunday is being sold as featuring “a distinctive ‘melting pot’ pattern”, that represents “the dynamic culture of London” and the club’s “passionate, diverse global community”.
Again, it’s quite an image. There was then the image of Fernandez and the rest of the squad taking the knee, with some boos audible at Stamford Bridge.
The worst perception of this would be that it is another case of football talking the talk on these major societal issues, principally because of their corporate branding, but then walking a different path when it comes to the bottom line of the football. That is a story that has been played out time and again in the Premier League.
Again, it should be reiterated that this isn’t to say Fernandez should be dropped or anything like it. There is no call for “punishment”, as Maresca referenced. This is simply about not following such a controversy with such a prestigious role, that is a symbol of the club.