Liam Rosenior delivers update on Enzo Fernandez’s future after Chelsea star hinted at summer exit

Fernandez fuelled talk about a potential summer exit when he spoke to the media after Chelsea had been dumped out of the Champions League by PSG. The Argentina international was asked about his plans and told ESPN Argentina: "I don’t know, there are eight games left and the FA Cup. There’s the World Cup and then we’ll see." Real Madrid and PSG have both previously been credited with interest in the 25-year-old.

Rosenior has now been asked about Fernandez and his comments, telling reporters: "Yeah, I think I had a great conversation with Enzo at length this morning before training, not just about his comments, just how he was feeling, how as a team we can improve. He's one of the captains of the club. What I would say is that he made it really, really clear to me how happy he is here at this club, how much he wants to win, how passionate he is for us to be successful. And he also said that in translation and in emotion, things get misconstrued in what he said. So for me, he's fully committed to this group, he's fully committed to winning here at this football club."

Fernandez's comments came during a tough week for Chelsea that has brought defeats to PSG in the Champions League and Newcastle in the Premier League. Rosenior admitted it's been a difficult time and a response is needed from the Blues.

"Every manager goes through difficult weeks. 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.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," he said.

Rosenior also admitted it's vital that Chelsea qualify for the Champions League again, adding: "You want to be in the Champions League. It makes your recruitment, it makes your planning, it makes everything clearer. Not just from a financial point of view, but this club deserves to be in the Champions League. It's as simple as that. That's the aim and that's the target. That's what we need to really focus on now after coming out of that competition. The rest of it is just about making sure that we win the next game and that we still stay on track for what we want to achieve."

Chelsea have work to do to qualify for the Champions League as they currently sit in sixth place in the table. Next up is a trip to the Hill Dickenson Stadium on Saturday to face Everton.