Reece James has admitted Chelsea “could have a problem” as Enzo Fernandez prepares to reunite with his teammates amid an ongoing investigation into allegations of racism, while Noni Madueke is of the view that “everything is going to be fine”.
Fernandez is being probed by FIFA after posting a live video of himself and a number of his Argentina teammates, in the wake of their Copa America success, chanting an offensive song aimed at France’s black and mixed heritage players.
Chelsea have also opened their own disciplinary proceedings following the incident which was branded by Fernandez’s club teammate Wesley Fofana as “uninhibited racism”, and led to French Blues players Axel Disasi and Malo Gusto unfollowing the midfielder on Instagram.
The story has dominated Chelsea’s pre-season preparations – they surprisingly drew 2-2 with League One upstarts Wrexham despite fielding a strong team – and captain James has told ESPN of the potential problems that lay ahead and how he feels they need to be addressed.
“Of course, there’s always the factor where it doesn’t sit right with people when there could be a problem,” James said. “But until the day comes where everyone’s together and in a room together, I don’t know, but I hope things can be resolved smoothly and we can move forward with the season.
“It’s a really difficult situation. There’s no room for racism or discrimination in football. I think he quickly put his hand up and acknowledged he’d done wrong and apologised to his teammates, the club and the rest of the people that were offended. I think that was probably the best he could have done in that situation.
“I spoke to him a bit, but it was hard because we were on different time zones. [It was] just a general chat really. His views on what happened and him trying to explain his situation and how things happened.”
Madueke, meanwhile, told reporters of a potential reintegration: “That’s something that’s between us players. Enzo is going to come back and join his team again and everything is going to be fine.”
The furore has overshadowed the opening weeks of Enzo Maresca’s tenure as Chelsea boss, with the Italian bringing new ideas and a new philosophy to a team that qualified for this season’s Europa League after a strong end to last season.
He echoed Madueke’s sentiments about Fernandez positively reuniting with his teammates, saying: “It…
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