Chelsea have performed a U-turn and blocked two more players from featuring at the Olympic Games in Paris.
As Olympic football is not formally recognised by FIFA, clubs are not obliged to release players for the competition.
Chelsea had already blocked Malo Gusto and Benoit Badiashile from representing France in their home Olympics this summer and the Daily Mail say Enzo Fernandez and Mykhailo Mudryk have also been told they will not be granted permission to feature.
The Premier League club were expected to allow Fernandez to play at the Olympics but have now decided to veto his participation.
Chelsea were plagued by injury problems in 2023-24 and are keen to avoid a repeat in Enzo Maresca’s first season at Stamford Bridge.
The Italian left Championship winners Leicester City to take over at Chelsea after Mauricio Pochettino’s surprising departure from west London.
Chelsea reportedly want Fernandez and Mudryk back at Stamford Bridge for pre-season and have therefore blocked them from playing at the Olympics.
The Blues are also worried about how many minutes the pair could rack up this summer, with Fernandez set to play for Argentina at Copa America and Mudryk a key player for Euro 2024 underdogs Ukraine.
Chelsea spent more than £100m to sign Fernandez from Benfica in January 2023, making the World Cup winner the most expensive signing in British football.
But the 23-year-old has largely struggled in the Premier League and it was even suggested Chelsea improved when he was unavailable last season.
Mudryk is another big-money Chelsea signing who is underwhelming, the Ukrainian scoring just seven goals in 41 appearances since moving from Shakhtar Donetsk in a deal worth up to £89m.
Arsenal legend Thierry Henry, who will manage the France under-23 team at the Paris Olympics, insisted he was not surprised by Chelsea’s decision to block two players from playing.
‘You have to know that it’s not easy to find yourself in a situation where you have to go and ask a certain club for permission to be able to take their players when you actually can’t ask for anything since they are within their right not to send since it’s not a FIFA date,’ Henry said when announcing his provisional squad for the competition.
‘When it’s already a FIFA date it’s hard, so there you go, we’re trying to find ways to have certain players and believe me it’s not easy,’ Henry said after unveiling his provisional squad.
‘You’re asking me questions but Chelsea are not me, so I asked questions about players, I was told, ‘no, it’s not possible’.
‘I know it’s not me who said that, that’s what happened, I can’t direct you on the why and how and I understand a little more the level of difficulty if a player ends up at the Euros because doing both is not easy.
‘Am I disappointed or surprised? No. Neither disappointed or surprised, the clubs are within their rights, unfortunately, and I think what I have been saying hasn’t changed since I started taking about the Olympics.
‘We knew very well that we were going to be confronted by this, you’re waiting for a response hoping but at a given moment if you give the possibility to a club they are within their rights to say, ‘no’. It becomes difficult, so am I disappointed, surprised? No, I expected it.’
The Paris Olympics takes place from July 26 to August 11 in the French capital. The Parc des Princes will host the gold-medal football match on the penultimate day of the Games.
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