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When Enzo Fernandez was handed the Chelsea armband, there was no notable response from the remainder of the squad, which was partly why supervisor Enzo Maresca most likely felt the matter was closed. The brand new Italian supervisor thought it merely wasn’t price increasing when requested after the 2-0 defeat to Manchester Metropolis whether or not he ought to have given Fernandez the captaincy.
This was in fact after Fernandez needed to apologise to Chelsea teammates after being caught on video chanting racist and homophobic slurs in opposition to members of the French group amid Argentina’s Copa America celebrations. Maresca pointed to how Fernandez already had the function in the summertime.
“I can see his teammates recognise him like a captain,” the supervisor mentioned. “He’s already captain in pre-season. After we make a mistake it is very important recognise. Enzo did and, on the finish, it’s completed.”
Maresca continued: “I did errors prior to now and I recognise, and I believe, if as a human being you make a mistake and recognise, you aren’t going to be punished for all times.”
That may all be true however the core difficulty with this controversy is that it doesn’t observe that you must instantly hand a participant concerned in such a narrative some of the accountable roles in a membership. Membership captain may not be fairly what it was, and this standing may solely be short-term for Fernandez – first-choice captain Reece James is injured – nevertheless it nonetheless carries a weight. It’s fairly an announcement for Maresca’s first recreation. It’s additionally why his feedback sound tone deaf, with the choice blind to larger implications.
That’s earlier than you even get to the actual fact Fernandez continues to be the topic of a Fifa investigation over the incident, and that in itself ought to have precluded him from the function. For some that’s partly about picture; this was at greatest a shortsighted and clumsy resolution.
It’s additionally why it isn’t actually related how the Chelsea squad really feel about this. Even if you happen to take it on these phrases alone, it’s really uncommon – arguably unprecedented – {that a} participant has been made captain so rapidly after having to apologise to teammates over an issue. It has presumably by no means occurred in soccer on this method. That alone made this stunning however, though there have been no identified misgivings among the many squad, that is actually about one thing larger.
Chelsea are a membership who’ve executed lots of vital and immensely admirable anti-racism work over the previous 20 years, and even the package Fernandez wore on Sunday is being offered as that includes “a particular ‘melting pot’ sample”, that represents “the dynamic tradition of London” and the membership’s “passionate, various international neighborhood”.
Once more, it’s fairly a picture. There was then the picture of Fernandez and the remainder of the squad taking the knee, with some boos audible at Stamford Bridge.
The worst notion of this may be that it’s one other case of soccer speaking the speak on these main societal points, principally due to their company branding, however then strolling a unique path relating to the underside line of the soccer. That may be a story that has been performed out repeatedly within the Premier League.
Once more, it must be reiterated that this isn’t to say Fernandez must be dropped or something prefer it. There isn’t a name for “punishment”, as Maresca urged. That is merely about not following such an issue with such a prestigious function, as an emblem of the membership.
