Report: Enzo Fernández back in training, but hernia surgery decision looms

Enzo Fernández missed Monday’s delightful 6-0 victory over Everton with an unspecified injury, though it’s been widely assumed to be related to the sports hernia that he’s been dealing with since at least the beginning of the new year.

It’s a manageable condition but one that eventually always requires surgical intervention. He can play through it, for the most part, and he’s back in training now — though his performances have dipped a bit in recent months, and that’s probably not unrelated.

So the question really isn’t “if” he should have the surgery, but rather “when” he should have it. The obvious answer would be the offseason, but as sources in Argentina advocate, that would pretty much rule him out for the Copa América, which starts June 20. And obviously they would want to have him available for that, as they hope to follow their World Cup success with a continental title-defense as well.

Obviously, national team concerns shouldn’t dictate what Chelsea may or may not do, but according to a recent report from Argentina, we apparently will evaluate Enzo’s condition after this weekend’s FA Cup semifinal. Whether we advance to the final or not will probably have something to do with the decision as well.

Expected recovery from this surgery would be around 3-4 weeks, so there would be very little time to squeeze it in between the end of the club season and the start of the Copa.