Partner Udo Onwere has commented on Enzo Fernandez’s racism scandal following Argentina’s Copa America victory, talking through potential disciplinary consequences for the Argentinian midfielder.
Udo’s comments were published in the i Paper, Daily Mail, Metro, and The Sun 17, 18, and 19 July 2024.
“They could suspend him, but I don’t think they will. What I suspect will happen is they will give him the most they can do – give him a fine for gross misconduct, which the legal maximum for is two weeks wages.
“Even though what’s happened is absolutely disgusting, Chelsea will look down the financial route. They will put out a public statement to say they’ve spoken to the player and he’s extremely remorseful, he’s a young guy, they’ll make all the right noises, do something that optically looks good like having the captain with him.
“It’s because of the stature of the player. If it was a young academy player who wasn’t worth anything monetary, they would do something a bit more stern.
“But because he cost £100m, it’s unlikely they’re going to look to ostracise him or remove him from the club. They’ll support him but condemn what he’s done, in the same way Liverpool acted with Luis Suarez years ago, because of the value of the player. In professional football you try and make sure that the action is condemned but you keep the player active.
“Chelsea will be very mindful to make sure they have a firm condemnation of what’s been done and say this is not something they can take lightly. He will get the biggest financial penalty the club can impose legally. The only mitigating factor in his favour is that he admitted it.
“In any kind of investigation they do, they have to give him an opportunity to explain himself and look at the nature of the offence, when it was done and his actions afterwards. I know he’s given a public apology, which is going to help him.
“They will make sure he has a public airing to express his apology, but they’ll look to move on with it. Chelsea are likely to try and hope they can cover it up, fine him and hopefully another big story will come down the track so they can bury the news.
“From my experience of dealing with these things, the FA may want to impose their own disciplinary measure, because here you have a situation where the charge has been admitted, then they’ll just look and see what censure that they can provide.
“I guess the FA may look and see how this has been handled by Chelsea before they decide what sort of stance that they will take. If it was an England player, for example, then the FA would be able to get involved. If this had been a tweet, the FA definitely would have got involved and he would have been banned for six/seven games minimum.
“Then they look at all the aggravating factors, such as whether the language discrimination, language was repeatedly used, the public nature of the offence, or the profile of the participant, which is going to be a higher profile.”
