Enzo Fernandes missed Chelsea’s FA Cup match against Port Vale (Image: Getty Images)
Enzo Fernandes remains suspended for Chelsea’s Premier League game against Manchester City this weekend and still needs to deal with a number of issues before returning next weekend. Liam Rosenior answered in just four words when asked if the South American could return to play against Manchester United.
The Argentina international was absent from Saturday’s game against Port Vale and will not feature in Sunday’s crucial league match against Man City. Last week, Rosseniol confirmed that the club had suspended Fernandes after he made comments during the recent international break in which he hinted at a move to Real Madrid. Fernandes’ agent, Javier Pastore, subsequently said his client’s suspension was “completely unfair” and revealed in an interview that the midfielder had apologized to everyone at the club recently.
Fernandes attended last weekend’s FA Cup win over Port Vale at Stamford Bridge, watching from just behind the substitutes’ bench as his team struggled in League One. The Argentine midfielder is expected to return to Chelsea for next weekend’s Premier League match against Manchester United at Stamford Bridge.
Asked if “hurdles” could prevent Fernandes from playing against Man United, Rosenior said: “Not at the moment.” Rosseniol also dismissed reports overseas that some Chelsea players were upset that Fernandes was left out of the squad and had raised the issue with Chelsea’s head coach.
Asked if he had received an apology, Rosenior said: “I had a very good conversation myself. I spoke to Enzo three or four times. He has apologized to me, he has apologized to the club and we will deal with it after Sunday’s big game.”
The Chelsea head coach continued: “This is a serious meeting about very serious things. Enzo, I said every step of the way that I’m not questioning who he is as a person.”
“I believe that people make mistakes and you can’t go beyond the punishment for those mistakes. We made the sanction, we made the decision and I think we made the decision. What I want for Enzo is for him to come here and have a great career.”
Liam Rosenior confirms Enzo Fernandes will miss this weekend’s match between Chelsea and Man City (Image: Getty)
“He won’t play on Sunday, but hopefully he can play a big role in the group after that. We still have some hurdles to get over so I won’t go into that, but at the same time I want all the players to be really, really focused on big practices right now.”
Asked what he meant by “hurdles to overcome”, Rosenior modestly said: “No, there are things I can’t talk about yet. Me and Enzo have a very good relationship, as we all do, but there are still things to clear before we can make a clear statement about the situation.”
In addition to Fernandes, Chelsea will be without Reece James, Levi Colwill, Trevor Chalobah, Jamie Gittens and Filip Jorgensen due to injury. James has resumed running after suffering a hamstring problem, but the Blues captain still needs time to recover.
Meanwhile, Colwill has returned to full training, but Chelsea want to carefully manage his return from a serious anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury sustained in August.
