Enzo Fernandez is now back with the Chelsea squad in the United States, two weeks after the £106.8million midfielder sparked a racism storm with the video uploaded to his Instagram during Argentina’s Copa America celebrations.
Fernandez arrived in Atlanta on Monday and immediately apologised to his team-mates in person.
He had been in constant contact with players since publicly and privately saying sorry for filming himself and fellow members of the Argentinian national team singing an offensive song about their French counterparts.
Fernandez voluntarily offered to make a contribution to an anti-discrimination charity in recognition of his misjudgement, which impressed his Blues bosses.
The club have also privately pledged to match that donation via their charitable arm, the Chelsea Foundation.
This represented an early challenge for new head coach Enzo Maresca, while captain Reece James and defender Axel Disasi have been two of the lead figures in the consultation process with Chelsea’s players.
Disasi is one of six Frenchmen on the club’s tour that also includes Wesley Fofana, Benoit Badiashile, Malo Gusto, Lesley Ugochukwu and Christopher Nkunku. Fernandez has now trained with the squad and had lunch with his team-mates.
Mail Sport broke two weeks ago how Chelsea were internally investigating the incident, with Fernandez facing a highly awkward return when coming face-to-face with his team-mates.
Fofana was one of those who used social media to reveal his disgust at the Argentinian chants, which he called ‘uninhibited racism’.
The song dates back to the 2022 World Cup final in which Argentina beat France, with lyrics describing how French players are ‘from Angola’ or have a ‘Nigerian’ mother and a ‘Cameroonian’ father.
It sparked outrage, not only from Fernandez’s fellow players but the French Football Federation, who said: ‘Faced with the seriousness of these shocking remarks, contrary to the values of sport and human rights, the president of the FFF decided to directly challenge his Argentine counterpart and FIFA and to file a legal complaint for insulting remarks of a racial and discriminatory nature.’