Kenedy has been sent home from Chelsea’s pre-season tour of Asia as punishment for his offensive social media posts about China, team boss Antonio Conte said Tuesday.
The Brazilian defender was axed from Chelsea’s tour as the Premier League champions fought to avoid further embarrassment after the social media slurs sparked a furious response in China, a major market for European teams.
The 21-year-old put two videos on Instagram, one of which contained a profanity and another of a security guard asleep and the caption: “Wake up China. You idiot.”
Advertisement
Kenedy posted the messages ahead of a friendly against Arsenal in Beijing on Saturday and was jeered by the crowd during Chelsea’s 3-0 win.
Chelsea had already issued an apology after saying that Kenedy’s actions caused “great offence and hurt the feelings of the people of China”.
Screen grabs of the offending social media posts. Photo: Instagram
Advertisement
Kenedy, signed from Fluminense for £6 million (HK$61 million) in 2015, flew with Chelsea to Singapore over the weekend and trained with the team on Sunday and Monday.
