Enzo Fernandez Has Undergone Surgery and Will Miss the Rest of Chelsea’s Season 

Football - Premier League - Arsenal v Chelsea - Emirates Stadium, London, Britain - April 23, 2024 Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez looks dejected after Arsenal's Kai Havertz scores their fourth goal. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Arsenal v Chelsea - Emirates Stadium, London, Britain - April 23, 2024 Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez looks dejected after Arsenal's Kai Havertz scores their fourth goal. (Reuters)
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Enzo Fernandez Has Undergone Surgery and Will Miss the Rest of Chelsea’s Season 

Football - Premier League - Arsenal v Chelsea - Emirates Stadium, London, Britain - April 23, 2024 Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez looks dejected after Arsenal's Kai Havertz scores their fourth goal. (Reuters)
Football - Premier League - Arsenal v Chelsea - Emirates Stadium, London, Britain - April 23, 2024 Chelsea's Enzo Fernandez looks dejected after Arsenal's Kai Havertz scores their fourth goal. (Reuters)

Enzo Fernandez has undergone surgery and will miss the remainder of Chelsea's season.

The Premier League club posted an injury update on social media Friday saying the 23-year-old midfielder “has undergone successful surgery on a groin issue and will now begin a period of rehabilitation.”

The Argentina international is expected to be available for the Copa America staged in the United States in June and July.

Fernandez played 67 minutes of Chelsea's 5-0 loss against Arsenal on Tuesday.

Fernandez became Britain's most expensive player when joining Chelsea from Benfica for 106.7 million pounds ($131.4 million) last year.

But the 2022 World Cup winner has not yet been able to bring success to the London club, which has endured another disappointing season under the ownership of Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital.

Despite spending more than $1 billion on transfers since buying Chelsea in 2022, the club, which won a full set of major trophies under former owner Roman Abramovich, has gone into rapid decline.

The loss to Arsenal was Chelsea's 11th of the season and delivered another blow to manager Mauricio Pochettino's hopes of qualifying for Europe.

Fernandez was one of Argentina's star performers at the last World Cup and was named the tournament's best young player.

Argentina is aiming to win back-to-back Copa America titles having triumphed in the last edition of the tournament in 2021.



Wimbledon Expansion Plan Set to Proceed after High Court Ruling

FILED - 29 June 2022, United Kingdom, London: Raindrops and the tournament logo can be seen on an umbrella during the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Photo: Frank Molter/dpa
FILED - 29 June 2022, United Kingdom, London: Raindrops and the tournament logo can be seen on an umbrella during the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Photo: Frank Molter/dpa
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Wimbledon Expansion Plan Set to Proceed after High Court Ruling

FILED - 29 June 2022, United Kingdom, London: Raindrops and the tournament logo can be seen on an umbrella during the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Photo: Frank Molter/dpa
FILED - 29 June 2022, United Kingdom, London: Raindrops and the tournament logo can be seen on an umbrella during the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club. Photo: Frank Molter/dpa

Wimbledon's controversial expansion plan is set to go ahead after a legal challenge against the decision to approve the proposal was dismissed by a High Court judge on Monday.

The 'Save Wimbledon Park' campaign group took action against the Greater London Authority's decision last year to grant a planning permission that would almost triple the size of the site for the grass-court Grand Slam.

The proposals would see the construction of 38 new tennis courts and an 8,000-seat stadium on the grounds of the former Wimbledon Park Golf Club, which would allow it to host All England Club qualifiers on site instead of across south London at Roehampton.

The campaign group's barristers told the High Court earlier this month that the decision to approve the plans was "irrational" and should be quashed, as Wimbledon Park was covered by restrictions on how it could be used.

But Wimbledon chiefs defended the challenge, with the court told that the decision was a "planning judgement properly exercised" and that the restrictions were not "material".

In a ruling on Monday, Justice Saini dismissed the challenge, AFP reported.

"In short, the defendant's decision on the relevance of deliverability, applying to both the statutory trust and the restrictive covenants, was a planning judgement rationally exercised and having regard to appropriate and relevant factors," he said.

Planning permission for the scheme was initially granted by Jules Pipe, London's deputy mayor for planning, who said that the proposals "would facilitate very significant benefits" which "clearly outweigh the harm".

Following Monday's High Court ruling, the campaign group said it had been "advised that it should" seek to challenge the decision.

"SWP is not taking this step lightly but believes that the GLA did make a significant legal error in the way it dealt with the special legal status of the park," a statement said.

The latest edition of Wimbledon concluded on July 13, with Jannik Sinner winning the men's title and Iga Swiatek lifting the women's trophy.