Maresca and James hopeful Enzo Fernandez return will not cause problems among Chelsea squad | OneFootball

New Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca says he does not think the return of Enzo Fernandez will cause any problems among his squad after the midfielder was accused of singing a racist song following Argentina’s Copa America victory.

Fernandez has been accused by the French Football Federation of singing a “racist and discriminatory” chant about the French players after Argentina won the Copa America, while Chelsea have opened an ‘internal disciplinary procedure’ into the incident.

His Chelsea team-mate Wesley Fofana also called the chant racist in a tweet.

But Maresca insists the issue has now been dealt with and is confident there will be no further problems.

“I don’t think so,” he said when asked if there would be any problems when Fernandez returns for pre-season on Monday.

“They are all human beings. I don’t think there are any bad intentions from any of them.

“I don’t think when Enzo is back that we will have any situations. Enzo clarified the situation, the club the same, so there is nothing to add. They are not bad persons or human beings.

“It can happen but I don’t think there are any problems at all. I spoke with Enzo and all of them.”

Chelsea captain Reece James also says he hopes everyone can now move on from what happened.

“It’s obviously a really difficult situation,” James said.

“I think Enzo acknowledged he did wrong and quickly put his hand up and apologised to the club, the team and the people offended.

“He hasn’t arrived yet so I don’t know if there’s anything to amend. I’ll have to make that judgement when he comes back in.

“But I hope everyone will be on the same page and can kind of move forward from this situation.

“I’ve spoken to Enzo and everyone involved but the conversations have to stay in house.”

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