Official: Chelsea sign Enzo Fernandez on an Eight and a Half Year Contract

[Guest Alex]

10 hours ago, Bob Singleton said:

La Marseillaise, even 😉

EDIT:  BTW, it isn't a racist song. Nowhere does it mention other nations, races, etc specifically.
It's a revolutionary song warning of "ferocious soldiers" attacking (actually slitting the throats of) 'our sons and partners' and calling everyone to arms to protect the people and the land.

In particular the lyric, "Qu'un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons !" Which translates to "may impure blood water our fields" is considered inherently racist and is the cause of  a lot of calls in France for it to be changed. 

[Sciatika]

The Wade verse of the National Anthem hasn't been sung for two hundred years (exaggeration). Personally, I would prefer it replaced by one of our other standards (Hope and Glory or Jerusalem). I don't care much about the words of GSTK; the tune is terrible.

Edited August 1 by Sciatika

[paulw66]

16 hours ago, Ham said:

That didn't take long

 

 

Someone called most of this.........

On 30/07/2024 at 15:14, paulw66 said:

Also, the fact he has been at the club for 18 months should give those players (and the whole club) a feel for what he is actually like as a person.

 

See Fofana quote.

On 22/07/2024 at 09:23, paulw66 said:

Funny how this already has gone pretty quiet. 

I think this will blow over with a fine, possible short ban, another apology and some "education"

Boom.

On 17/07/2024 at 11:16, paulw66 said:

 

For those calling for him to be sacked, or that he can never play for the club again........let's be real. The club isn't going to cast off a 100m asset. It just isn't, and it can't afford to. Forget your own opinion on what should / should not be done, let's just focus on what will possibly happen....in no particular order:

1. the club will make every effort to mend bridges between him and the rest of the squad, and he will resume at a given opportunity 

2. he will get heavily fined, and probably suspended 

3. if the squad members (particularly the black french ones) cannot accept his apology, and it becomes untenable, presumably, the club will offer him around. A permanent sale would come at a huge loss.

 

Boom. On point 3, they seem to have moved on.

 

<sits there smugly>

 

🙂

[ROTG]

1 minute ago, paulw66 said:

Someone called most of this.........

See Fofana quote.

Boom.

Boom. On point 3, they seem to have moved on.

 

<sits there smugly>

 

🙂

Great - lets hope the club lets back all those poor badstarts who shouted racist abuse to players at SB and were banned for life, along with EDL

[Guest Alex]

On 01/08/2024 at 13:46, ROTG said:

Great - lets hope the club lets back all those poor badstarts who shouted racist abuse to players at SB and were banned for life, along with EDL

Following all the hatred between building between France and Argentina at these Olympics, it's not a problem going away.

All my French friends, who I was just out with again, are professing no love for Argentina (to put it in a mild British way). Got Rule Britannia sung at me, which generated feelings of both being touched and then feeling this is very wrong. Thank God nobody was filming.

[chara]

17 minutes ago, Alex said:

Following all the hatred between building between France and Argentina at these Olympics, it's not a problem going away.

All my French friends, who I was just out with again, are professing no love for Argentina (to put it in a mild British way). Got Rule Britannia sung at me, which generated feelings of both being touched and then feeling this is very wrong. Thank God nobody was filming.

Stirred a memory,,when the Falklands conflict erupted, I had the acquaintance of the Argentine Ambassadors daughter,,work related and in no way a non-work friendship.

The young lady was personable, a pleasure to talk with, "nice" in the best way and spoke better English than some lads I have known,

I remember how distraught she was and how upset her work colleagues were regarding her distress,

It took nothing away from the feelings of outrage felt regarding the Invasion and Occupation but reminds me that the very personal aspect of any conflict be it military or civil is ever present and the media inevitably fan the flames of division,

Added,,for those with long memories,,,the sad irony of the Exocet sales is not lost on me at least.

 

Edited August 3 by chara

[jasonb]

15 hours ago, chara said:

Added,,for those with long memories,,,the sad irony of the Exocet sales is not lost on me at least.

Yes and the term Yomping came into common parlance as the elite forces carrying full kit jogged overland due to concerns over Argie aircraft, the Harrier Jump Jets were too vulnerable against modern fighters even back then.

Vulcan bombers were used to bomb the Argentinian airbase. 

 

 

[Guest Alex]

Another way for Fernandez to go after this debacle and possible ban is grow a beard and start giving surreal Cantona-style statements at press conferences.

[My Blood Is Blue]

How long left on that 8.5 year contract? Is it 7 years?!

[Guest Alex]

1 hour ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

How long left on that 8.5 year contract? Is it 7 years?!

Yep, on 180k per week. Nice one Todd.

[Chelsea_Matt]

I think we overpaid by £90,000,000. He actually hinders the side. Talented but totally unsuited to the PL imo. Too slow and weak. 💀💀 💯 

[xceleryx]

8 hours ago, Chelsea_Matt said:

I think we overpaid by £90,000,000. He actually hinders the side. Talented but totally unsuited to the PL imo. Too slow and weak. 💀💀 💯 

If he was at City or elsewhere he'd be looked at very differently IMO. 

[ROTG]

2 minutes ago, xceleryx said:

If he was at City or elsewhere he'd be looked at very differently IMO. 

He would still be a racist 

[Chelsea_Matt]

On 05/08/2024 at 10:38, xceleryx said:

If he was at City or elsewhere he'd be looked at very differently IMO. 

I don’t know about that.

Edited September 9 by Michael Tucker
Silly emojis AGAIN!!!!

[Mark Kelly]

5 hours ago, ROTG said:

He would still be a racist 

Do you  know who said he wasn't a racist?

Forfana

I guess he knows him better than you

[My Blood Is Blue]

6 hours ago, xceleryx said:

If he was at City or elsewhere he'd be looked at very differently IMO. 

I don’t think Pep would have signed him though to be fair.

I think Enzo is a good footballer, I just don’t think he has the right attributes for the PL. He is absolutely not the first player to struggle in the PL and he won’t be the last. In another league he would be one of the top players, but I just don’t think he’ll ever be that in the PL. 

Regardless of what any of us think, it does seem as though the club are keeping their eggs in the Enzo shaped basket, which I understand considering how much money they spent on him, but from a footballing POV it’s a big risk.

[xceleryx]

3 minutes ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

I don’t think Pep would have signed him though to be fair.

I think Enzo is a good footballer, I just don’t think he has the right attributes for the PL. He is absolutely not the first player to struggle in the PL and he won’t be the last. In another league he would be one of the top players, but I just don’t think he’ll ever be that in the PL. 

Regardless of what any of us think, it does seem as though the club are keeping their eggs in the Enzo shaped basket, which I understand considering how much money they spent on him, but from a footballing POV it’s a big risk.

I'd probably buy into this view more had Enzo been terrible his entire time here. He has however, painfully for some I'm sure, demonstrated an ability to be a very effective player in the Premier League - albeit it for only half a season and the first few games of last campaign (opening day vs Liverpool a prime example).

Sure, he has his drawbacks in transition with his mobility and lack of leg speed, but a little like with Jorginho his skillset is important within a possession based team as someone that moves the play. He'd also have more assists if our forward line could finish, which maybe would've altered perceptions a little more?

The upcoming season though is going to be a huge one for him. He's hopefully 100% fit again after carrying a hernia for much of last season, and he'll have midfield options beside him who can cover some of his limitations. If he has a down year again then it would be natural to start thinking about his future. 

[ROTG]

50 minutes ago, Mark Kelly said:

Do you  know who said he wasn't a racist?

Forfana

I guess he knows him better than you

if you and Forfana believe he is not that's your prerogative, One suspects most of the world who saw the stream and subsequent media coverage would probably disagree with you both.

IMHO the Subject is closed.

[chiswickblue]

59 minutes ago, Mark Kelly said:

Do you  know who said he wasn't a racist?

Forfana

I guess he knows him better than you

Don't you think that Fofana may have been incentivised to say this? Also, he may not be racist all the time and to everyone (note the club posting photos of him sitting on the plane with Caicedo) and he may not have understood the connotations of the song he was singing and live-streaming, but this is equally bad. Thinking it's ok to sing racist songs because otherwise you are nice to black people is part of the problem.

[east lower]

17 minutes ago, My Blood Is Blue said:

I don’t think Pep would have signed him though to be fair.

I think Enzo is a good footballer, I just don’t think he has the right attributes for the PL. He is absolutely not the first player to struggle in the PL and he won’t be the last. In another league he would be one of the top players, but I just don’t think he’ll ever be that in the PL. 

Regardless of what any of us think, it does seem as though the club are keeping their eggs in the Enzo shaped basket, which I understand considering how much money they spent on him, but from a footballing POV it’s a big risk.

Fernandez being a PL success - Not a hill I'd die on or a hill anyone else in the PL wanted to try and scale. 

Wasn't a good buy at £50m, watch him cost this coach his job.

[Mark Kelly]

45 minutes ago, chiswickblue said:

Don't you think that Fofana may have been incentivised to say this? Also, he may not be racist all the time and to everyone (note the club posting photos of him sitting on the plane with Caicedo) and he may not have understood the connotations of the song he was singing and live-streaming, but this is equally bad. Thinking it's ok to sing racist songs because otherwise you are nice to black people is part of the problem.

I don't know , neither do you and neither does ROTG , that's the point I was making . 

Things aren't always black or white , they're shades of grey .

The people who know , know .

Would you be incentivised to lie?  No amount of incentivisation would get me to . 

[Bert19]

18 hours ago, Alex said:

Yep, on 180k per week. Nice one Todd.

Did Enzo tell you what he earns then? Stop quoting player salaries like they are facts. Because they aren't. They're numbers largely picked out of the air in order to justify an argument that a player isn't worth what they are supposedly paid. 

1 hour ago, xceleryx said:

I'd probably buy into this view more had Enzo been terrible his entire time here. He has however, painfully for some I'm sure, demonstrated an ability to be a very effective player in the Premier League - albeit it for only half a season and the first few games of last campaign (opening day vs Liverpool a prime example).

Sure, he has his drawbacks in transition with his mobility and lack of leg speed, but a little like with Jorginho his skillset is important within a possession based team as someone that moves the play. He'd also have more assists if our forward line could finish, which maybe would've altered perceptions a little more?

The upcoming season though is going to be a huge one for him. He's hopefully 100% fit again after carrying a hernia for much of last season, and he'll have midfield options beside him who can cover some of his limitations. If he has a down year again then it would be natural to start thinking about his future. 

Agree with a lot of this, but i'd say your last sentence there applies to about half of this squad.  A lot of them have a lot to prove.  All of the defenders (except maybe Gusto) as a starting point. 

59 minutes ago, east lower said:

Fernandez being a PL success - Not a hill I'd die on or a hill anyone else in the PL wanted to try and scale. 

Wasn't a good buy at £50m, watch him cost this coach his job.

Judging by our pre-season tactics and ideas, he's well on the way to doing that himself rather than relying on any player to get him the sack. 

[east lower]

20 minutes ago, Bert19 said:

 

Judging by our pre-season tactics and ideas, he's well on the way to doing that himself rather than relying on any player to get him the sack. 

I've seen bits, but what I've seen thus far shows us to be almost inept defensively.

Sanchez gets good and experienced defenders on edge, never mind crocked and mediocre ones.

If Maresca is hamstrung by 'having' to accommodate Fernandez then he's probably a gonna. If I were the coach I'd get the defence shored up and then develop. We've enough attacking talent to score a goal or two, but just like last season we can't rely on scoring 3 or more goals per game to achieve wins.

[Bison]

No more Gallagher around to do Enzo's  running so he will no doubt be even worse next season. 

Enzo in the heart of our midfield chasing shadows for the next eight years. 

[asvaberg]

On 01/08/2024 at 07:42, Sciatika said:

 I don't care much about the words of GSTK; the tune is terrible.

I beg to differ. It depends who performs it 😁