Fernandez fully committed to Chelsea – Rosenior

Chelsea boss Liam Rosenior says midfielder Enzo Fernandez is “fully committed” to the club after the Argentina international appeared to cast doubt on his future.

When asked if he would be with the club next season following Chelsea’s 3-0 defeat by Paris St-Germain in the Champions League on Tuesday, Fernandez told ESPN: “I don’t know.”

The 25-year-old, who joined Chelsea for a then British record of £107m from Benfica in January 2023, added: “There are eight games left and the FA Cup. There’s the World Cup and then we’ll see.”

Chelsea’s defeat by PSG knocked them out of the Champions League as they went out at the last-16 stage following an 8-2 aggregate defeat by the holders.

“I had a great conversation with Enzo at length this morning before training, not just about his comments but how he is feeling, how as a team we can improve,” said Rosenior on Thursday prior to his side’s game at Everton on Saturday (17:30 GMT).

“He is one of the captains at the club and what I will say is that he made it really clear how happy he is here at this club, how much he wants to win and how passionate he is for us to be successful.

Chelsea’s losses to PSG in both legs of their Champions League tie were sandwiched in between them being beaten 1-0 at home by Newcastle United.

The defeat by the Magpies left the Stamford Bridge club sixth in the Premier League – one point behind fifth-placed Liverpool – and out of the Champions League qualification spots with eight games left.

“Every manager goes through difficult weeks,” said Rosenior.

“I’ve had challenging periods before. I’ve lost games in many jobs, like all managers have done. We need to find a way to fight at Everton and come through a difficult period.”

He added: “You want to be in the Champions League. It makes everything clearer, not just from a financial point of view. This club deserves to be in the Champions League. That’s the target.”

Rosenior, who will be without defender Trevoh Chalobah for “around six weeks”, also said the social media criticism of him passing a note to his players when 8-2 down on aggregate against PSG “doesn’t bother me”.

“The reality is that I have to help this club win matches. If I don’t, if I breathe wrong or sneeze wrong, people will talk about it. It doesn’t affect me. It’s my job to be aware. Am I surprised? No,” said the Blues boss.

“In terms of the game on Tuesday, it completely didn’t go the way we wanted it to.