Enzo Fernandez has gone from World Cup hero to dressing room pariah at Stamford Bridge, with the Argentine’s public flirtation with Real Madrid and his furious outbursts at teammates sparking a full blown mutiny behind the scenes.
The midfielder’s popularity has plummeted during a nightmare run of four straight defeats, with senior players said to be fuming at his behaviour both on and off the pitch.
It all started with the Champions League exit. Paris Saint Germain put eight past Chelsea over two legs 8-2 on aggregate, if you somehow managed to block it out and Fernandez lost his head completely.
Cameras caught him hurling the match ball at goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen after an error from the Dane, screaming at his own teammate in full view of everyone. Not a good look for a bloke who cost £107million.
But that was just the appetiser.
According to The Telegraph, the real damage has been done by what Fernandez has been saying in interviews. Specifically, how much he’d love to live in Madrid.
“I’d like to live in Spain,” he said, with a stunning lack of self awareness. “I really like Madrid; it reminds me of Buenos Aires. Players live where they want. I’d live in Madrid. I get by in English, but I’d be more comfortable in Spanish.”
Now, you don’t need to be a body language expert to work out why that hasn’t gone down well in a Chelsea dressing room that’s already hanging by a thread.
The timing, of course, was immaculate. Chelsea had just been dumped out of Europe. The season was unravelling. And their record signing was effectively telling the world he fancied a move to the Spanish capital.
When asked directly about his future by ESPN Argentina, Fernandez did absolutely nothing to calm the situation.
“I don’t know, there are eight games left and the FA Cup. There’s the World Cup and then we’ll see.”
Translation: I’m keeping my options open. PSG are lurking, Madrid are lurking, and Chelsea are a mess.
You can imagine how that went down in the dressing room.
The tension has been building for weeks. Senior players are said to be angry at Fernandez’s constant vocal frustrations with teammates during matches, the Jorgensen incident was apparently not an isolated moment and his refusal to commit to the club has only poured petrol on the fire.
It is a nightmare scenario for manager Liam Rosenior, who now has to somehow keep a fractured squad focused on a top five finish and an FA Cup quarter final against Port Vale.
Chelsea sit sixth in the Premier League. Their Champions League hopes are hanging by the thinnest of threads. And their £107m man is already picturing himself sipping coffee in the Plaza Mayor.
Here’s the real kicker though, Chelsea might need to sell him.
The club recently posted losses of over £260million, a new unwanted record for English football. UEFA and the Premier League are both breathing down their necks over financial rules. And while the board are banking on Club World Cup money and Champions League TV rights to balance the books, selling a big name would certainly help.
Fernandez, for all his current baggage, would still command a monster fee.
Whether Rosenior can patch things up in time for the run in remains to be seen. The Argentine has eight league games plus the FA Cup to prove his dedication. If he can’t or won’t then this could end very messily indeed.
One thing’s for certain. The Chelsea dressing room has turned. And when the players turn on their own record signing, it rarely ends well.
