The 25-year-old had cast doubt over his Chelsea future following the defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on March 17, but captained the side four days later in the loss to Everton. Speaking to broadcaster Luzu TV during the international break, Fernandez was asked which European city he would like to live in, and he replied: \u201cI always tell my wife if you tell me to choose a city in Europe to live in, I really like Madrid because it\u2019s very similar to Buenos Aires \u2014 the life, everything \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Rosenior said Fernandez had \u201ccrossed the line\u201d. Pastore said the comments were not about the midfielder\u2019s Chelsea future, simply him answering an interview question.<\/p>\n
Chelsea have been contacted by\u00a0The Athletic for comment.<\/p>\n
The Athletic: How is Enzo feeling after the two-match ban?<\/p>\n
Pastore: Enzo didn\u2019t understand the situation. When the coach told him, he accepted it because he\u2019s a highly professional guy who\u2019s always fully committed wherever he is and respects decisions, but we don\u2019t understand the punishment because he doesn\u2019t mention any club or say he wants to leave Chelsea, far from it; he only mentions Madrid, the city, because he was asked which European city he\u2019d like to live in one day, and he said Madrid because of the language, because it\u2019s similar to Buenos Aires and because it\u2019s logical \u2014 it\u2019s only natural for an Argentine to say that \u2014 and also because of the culture, the weather \u2026 but at no point does he say he wants to leave Chelsea or London.<\/p>\n
The Athletic: How did the ban happen?<\/p>\n
Pastore: I received a message from the club on Thursday, while Enzo was travelling back to London; they told me they wanted to speak to me about the comments and sent me the link to Enzo\u2019s words. I replied that it was no problem, that I\u2019d seen the comments too, I\u2019d watched the interview he gave, and at no point did he show a lack of respect towards the club, his team-mates, the fans or anyone else.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll say it again: he didn\u2019t say he wants to leave or that he\u2019d rather live in Madrid than London. He\u2019s not disrespecting anyone. When they sent me the message, I replied, and they didn\u2019t reply back; it seems that by then they\u2019d already decided to sanction him today upon his arrival at the club.<\/p>\n
![\"Enzo](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/GettyImages-2260525331-1-scaled.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
\n Fernandez will miss Chelsea\u2019s next two matches (Dan Istitene\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n
The Athletic: Do you think it\u2019s fair?<\/p>\n
Pastore: The punishment is completely unfair \u2014 banning the player for two matches, which moreover are also absolutely crucial for Chelsea because qualification for the Champions League is at stake and he is one of the team\u2019s most important players. Alongside others, of course, but he has proven himself this year to be a leader and a key player, the backbone of this Chelsea side. I think it\u2019s far too harsh given Chelsea\u2019s current situation, and there\u2019s no real reason or justification for why he has been banned.<\/p>\n
The Athletic: Do you understand why there is frustration at Chelsea over the comments?<\/p>\n
Pastore: I understand Chelsea\u2019s position, and that of the club\u2019s directors, following the reaction to what he said, but the fact is that he never mentioned any club or said he wanted to leave. What was reported in the media is the responsibility of each media outlet or journalist who drew their own conclusions. I understand the club\u2019s situation, but I don\u2019t understand the sanction.<\/p>\n
The Athletic:\u00a0Have there been negotiations regarding a contract renewal?<\/p>\n
Pastore: There have been talks about renewing his contract, yes. We started discussing it around December or January, but we couldn\u2019t reach an agreement. As Enzo\u2019s contract still has six years to run, we decided not to renew it because the terms weren\u2019t right for us or for the player; given what Enzo is capable of today, he deserves much more than he\u2019s currently earning.<\/p>\n
We haven\u2019t reached an agreement and it may be that this annoyed the club, given that he is a hugely important player, but these are things that have to be managed. I look at the sporting and financial aspects of the player\u2019s situation, and I didn\u2019t see that renewal coming to fruition because they weren\u2019t very realistic about Enzo\u2019s current situation.<\/p>\n
We felt that rather than renewing on terms that wouldn\u2019t make the player happy, it was better to leave things as they are and focus on playing and performing well, as they have important objectives until May: qualifying for the Champions League. We decided to put that out of our minds and focus 100 per cent on the crucial fixtures with Chelsea and also the World Cup with Argentina, which will demand a great amount of concentration. We don\u2019t want to get into discussions about figures, contracts and negotiations when the timing wasn\u2019t right.<\/p>\n
Our plan after the World Cup is to meet with Chelsea again and, if there is no agreement, to explore other options.<\/p>\n
The Athletic: Does Enzo want to stay at Chelsea?<\/p>\n
Pastore:\u00a0He\u2019s the backbone and leader of the team; it\u2019s only natural that, from a sporting perspective, he\u2019s happy to be at Chelsea. He won major trophies last year and earned the respect of the entire Premier League and all the fans, and when a player is performing like that on the pitch, of course he\u2019s happy where he is.<\/p>\n
Then there are other factors that influence decisions, whether it\u2019s salary, respect, or the way things are handled \u2026 there are so many things that we aren\u2019t seeing at the moment \u2014 or at least I, as an agent, am not seeing \u2014 that suggest the club is not handling things in the best possible way with him.<\/p>\n
This two-match ban, which makes no sense from my perspective, suggests that the club is trying to make a point or send a message; I suppose we\u2019ll understand the reasons better in time. But to do this to the vice-captain \u2014 or captain when James isn\u2019t there \u2014 to sanction him for two matches for something I see no reason or explanation for, is undoubtedly a sign of certain moves the club will surely let us know about as soon as possible.<\/p>\n
The Athletic: Does Enzo fear any reproach from fans or team-mates?<\/p>\n
Pastore: No, in the dressing room he always says things clearly to his team-mates, he is a leader.
And Enzo wants to apologise if any fan has felt offended, but also stressing that he has never spoken of another club or that he wants to leave Chelsea or London, as this was an interpretation that the media made as a result of his words.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Enzo Fernandez\u2019s agent has called Liam Rosenior\u2019s decision to drop the Chelsea midfielder \u201ccompletely unfair\u201d and says his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":562679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[15665,464,113962,1084,403,99,28230],"class_list":{"0":"post-562678","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-argentina","9":"tag-chelsea","10":"tag-fifa-mens-world-cup","11":"tag-premier-league","12":"tag-soccer","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-top-sports-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=562678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/562678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/562679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=562678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=562678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=562678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}