Ex-Premier League star Darren Bent shares racist abuse after Enzo Fernandez criticism

Enzo Fernandez has apologised after filming himself and his Argentina teammates singing a derogatory song about France players and Darren Bent has now spoken out

Former Premier League striker Darren Bent has highlighted the racist abuse he received for criticising Enzo Fernandez, following the Chelsea midfielder's apology for singing an alleged racist and transphobic chant.

Fernandez filmed himself and a number of his Argentina teammates singing the song after their 1-0 win over Colombia in the Copa America final. The chant is derogatory about France and dates back to Argentina beating them in the 2022 World Cup final.

It goes: "Listen, spread the word, they play in France, but they are all from Angola, they are going to run well, they like to sleep with trans people, their mum is Nigerian, their dad is Cameroonian, but on the passport it says: French."

The clip has received plenty of backlash, including from Fernandez's Chelsea teammate Wesley Fofana, and the 23-year-old has now issued an apology. "I want to apologise sincerely for a video posted on my Instagram channel during the national team celebrations," Fernandez said.

"The song includes highly offensive language and there is absolutely no excuse for these words. I stand against discrimination in all forms and apologise for getting caught up in the euphoria of our Copa America celebrations. That video, that moment, those words, do not reflect my beliefs or my character. I am truly sorry."

And Bent has now shared his own experiences of racist abuse after criticising Fernandez's performances last season, sharing a series of videos from his Instagram which include a number of comments using a monkey emoji.

"The last time I spoke about Enzo Fernandez and his performances for Chelsea this is the reaction I got, and this isn't half of it #NoRoomForRacism," he wrote on social media. He also spoke about the incident on talkSPORT, adding: "I remember doing a show a couple of months ago about Enzo's situation at Chelsea and how he's played and there was a comment about how I didn't think he had been good enough.

"I went to sleep and when I woke up there was a barrage of racist comments. I wasn't talking about his personality or him as a character, just simply him as a player. I can't tell you the amount of abuse that came through."

On the chant itself, Bent added: "It's not a good look for Enzo Fernandez at all, it's really not. Before Wesley Fofana put that post on social media, I hope they [Chelsea teammates] would have contacted him first and asked the question of 'what are you playing at?'

"But they'll never look at him the same ever again regardless of whether he puts out the sorrys and says I should never have done this. Even if he stands there in front of his Chelsea teammates and says 'I'm deeply sorry for what I've done', they'll never ever look at him the same."

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