Chelsea star Enzo Fernandez’s ex-wife Valentina Cervantes has opened up about her relationship with the midfielder before they parted ways earlier this year. Fernandez joined the Blues in a reported £107 million move in January 2023, a Premier League record fee at the time, which was subsequently broken by Moises Caicedo’s £115 million transfer.
The pair split up in October, while the 23-year-old midfielder was struggling for minutes. He has since regained form and has 10 goal contributions in eight games across competitions since the start of November for Chelsea.
In a recent interview with Game, Set & Match, Cervantes spoke about her relationship with the player and her amicable split. The social media influencer said (via the Daily Mail):
“Everything was fine and suddenly one day he told me that he didn’t want to be anymore. There are things that I still have to process, but that’s it, I accepted it. When we met, I worked in an empanada restaurant and studied Law. He was in the lower River and then played in the reserve team. When we moved in together, I changed jobs to a call center near the Obelisk.
“At that time I earned more than his representative gave him, we spent my entire salary, I had nothing left to save. And after 9 months I got pregnant with Olivia, I was 19 years old”
When asked whether she was still in love with Fernandez, Cervantes replied:
“I think love is still there because it is very difficult for it to leave so quickly. I don’t depend on a man or anyone to be happy. With the company of my children I will always be happy.”
Chelsea will next face Irish outfit Shamrock Rivers in the Conference League on Thursday night (December 19).
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca praises Enzo Fernandez’s attitude
Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca has drawn attention to how Enzo Fernandez dealt with his lack of game time. The Italian believes Fernandez can serve as an example for the rest of his teammates.
At the end of October, before Fernandez’s upturn in form, Maresca spoke about the midfielder’s lack of game time, explaining Chelsea’s need for physicality in the middle of the park.
Now that Fernandez has turned things around, Maresca has hailed the midfielder for the way he trained despite his struggles to break into the starting XI. The Chelsea boss said (per the club’s official website):
“Enzo is a very good example. Noni [Madeueke] is the same. Even when they were not playing, they were doing the right things. It was my decision to leave them out but it wasn’t because they were training badly or the behaviour wasn’t right. It was simple technical decisions.
“Sometimes, when you leave out players you hurt them and motivate them to give something extra, but Enzo can be a good example for the rest.”
Edited by Sankalp Srivastava