Fernandez comments 'destabilising team at crucial moment'
[BBC] [Getty Images] The international break means two weeks without a Chelsea game - the perfect window for a small story to get blown out of proportion as fans and journalists sit around waiting for the Premier League to return. It was to this backdrop that Enzo Fernandez chose to launch his farewell tour. He had already planted the seeds with his comments after the Champions League defeat by Paris St-Germain a couple of weeks ago, where he sighed that he "didn't know" where he would be playing next season.
His return to Argentina for national team duty then gave him the perfect platform to start the next stage: the open flirtation with Real Madrid. He went on a podcast over the weekend to talk about how much he would like to live in the Spanish capital. Hardly subtle, bordering on shameless.
The vice-captain is destabilising his team at a crucial moment in the season and has shown that he is putting his desires and his career ahead of the club he is supposed to be a leader and a cornerstone player for. If Fernandez leaves, the BlueCo project stops being just stuck and starts going backwards. Players who might otherwise be happy to continue giving their best now see a senior starter agitating to move and begin wondering if they should be doing the same thing.
Chelsea are then stuck in an impossible position, even if they do get a big offer for Enzo: sell a key piece and admit your ambitions are not matching those of the world's best players, or hold on to an unhappy player who is clearly not afraid to make a fuss? The long contracts players such as Enzo have been signed to are supposed to protect the club - but they can't force a player to be happy, or to play well. In fact, there is a sense Enzo is accelerating his campaign to leave precisely because the club has so much leverage on paper.
Find more from Will Faulks at Chelsea News