Chelsea making Enzo Fernandez captain after disgraceful Copa America celebrations further highlights Blues' clueless leadership

Chelsea are very proud of their home kit for 2024-25, which was designed to reflect "the dynamic culture of London" with a jersey that "features a distinctive 'melting pot' pattern." It's such a shame for the marketing team, then, that Enzo Fernandez was wearing not only the shirt, but also the captain's armband as he took the knee ahead of Sunday's Premier League opener against Manchester City at Stamford Bridge.

It was a truly shameful sight, a tone-deaf response to a racism row that not only made a mockery of an entire movement, but also highlighted the total lack of strong leadership at Chelsea right now.

Just one month before the City game, Fernandez and a number of his Argentina team-mates had felt compelled to celebrate the nation's Copa America triumph by singing a racist song about black players from a country that hadn't even participated in the tournament.

"They play for France, but their parents are from Angola," the players joyfully sang. "Their mother is from Cameroon, while their father is from Nigeria. But their passport says French."

As if to underline the fact that racism is rooted in stupidity, Fernandez decided to live-stream this display of embarrassing ignorance. Unsurprisingly, many of his team-mates were appalled by such behaviour, chief among them Wesley Fofana. "Football in 2024: uninhibited racism," the centre-back wrote on social media.

Fernandez promptly posted the obligatory 'heartfelt' apology, insisting that he was "truly sorry" for his actions. "That video, that moment, those words, do not reflect my character or beliefs," he insisted while also rather incredibly implying that racism can be a consequence of getting "caught up in the euphoria" of victory.

His employers also issued a public statement: "Chelsea Football Club finds all forms of discriminatory behaviour completely unacceptable. We are proud to be a diverse, inclusive club where people from all cultures, communities and identities feel welcome. We acknowledge and appreciate our player's public apology and will use this as an opportunity to educate. The club has instigated an internal disciplinary procedure."

And how did that inquiry conclude? With Chelsea agreeing to match a significant donation made by Fernandez to an anti-discriminatory charity, before then making him vice-captain for the 2024-25 campaign.

"All of us make mistakes," new manager Enzo Maresca said while defending the decision to put Fernandez in such a prestigious position. "It's important to recognise Enzo made a mistake, recognised the mistake and it's finished.

"I don't know about you, but I made some mistakes in the past and I recognised. As a human being, if you make a mistake and you recognise it, you are not going to be punished for life."

The problem is, though, that Chelsea didn't punish Fernandez, they promoted him - and that staggering move has overshadowed all of the club's previous efforts to change the negative perception of a significant part of its fanbase, and create a more inclusive culture at the club.

Chelsea's eagerness to sweep this issue under the carpet and move on as quickly as possible is understandable. This is a club in a constant state of chaos; the last thing they needed was a racism row threatening to divide a gargantuan dressing room that's already full of frustrated players.

However, it could - and indeed should - have been easily handled. Chelsea's ownership would have received some rare praise if they'd made an example of one of their most expensive signings and suspended him for the start of the season. It would have sent out a strong message of zero-tolerance towards all forms of discrimination and proved that the club has a serious backbone.

Instead, they've botched yet another major decision, making it seem as if they have as little understanding of "good PR" as they do the transfer market - which only strengthens the belief that Behdad Eghbali and Todd Boehly are not the savvy businessmen that Chelsea supporters were led to believe them to be.

Rather than back down, Chelsea have doubled down, by giving a role of real responsibility to a player who offended so many team-mates and fans just over a month ago.

It's a move that doesn't even make sense from a purely sporting perspective either, given Fernandez ranks as one of the new regime's most disappointing signings. He's done nothing to date to suggest that he's worthy of a regular starting spot at an elite club - let alone the captain's armband.

But this horribly ill-advised show of support is about much more than than tactical considerations. The entire Fernandez affair offers a timely and important reminder of precisely why QPR and individuals such as Ivan Toney and Wilfried Zaka spoke out against continuing to take the knee years ago. They rightly felt that football wasn't taking the issue of racism seriously at all and was solely interested in partaking in meaningless performative gestures. Clearly, little has changed in the interim.

As Fofana pointed out, football in 2024 remains plagued by uninhibited racism - and the perpetrators still aren't being reprimanded. The only difference now, in fact, is that some of them are even being rewarded.