Chelsea star Kenedy sent home in disgrace from pre-season tour after offensive comments about China
The Brazilian caused uproar in the Far East with his Intagram posts and has now flown back to the UK
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CHELSEA youngster Kenedy has been sent home in disgrace after his offensive posts on social media.
The Premier League champions apologised for the Brazilian posting images with “f***ing China” as a caption – but have now sent him home.
His Instagram rant made a massive impact in China and Kenedy was jeered during the friendly against Arsenal at the Bird’s Nest Stadium in Beijing.
Antonio Conte’s squad moved on to Singapore after the clash but the row rumbled on leading to Kenedy getting ordered to fly back to the UK.
Chelsea say he was "strongly reprimanded and disciplined" for the Instagram posts, which have since been deleted.
Kenedy reportedly posted a series of images with the captions “f***ing China” and “wake up China you idiot”, in reference to a sleeping security guard.
He did apologise, saying: “Hello my friends, just wanna say sorry if someone was sad because I used the expression “porra”, was no racism, just an expression…big hug.”
claim that the club could receive an outright ban from the country due to the star’s actions.
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Sources have also claimed that the government has ordered Chinese media to “withdraw all related stories about Chelsea from their dual homepages and news apps”.
The club said in a statement: “On July 22nd, Chelsea Football Club experienced the warmth and friendliness of Chinese fans at the National Stadium.
“However, we were surprised and disappointed that one day prior to the match, one of our young players, Kenedy, posted messages on his social media account that caused great offence and hurt the feelings of the people of China.
“Unfortunately, even though he quickly deleted the messages and apologised, and the club also apologised via our Chinese social media channels, the damage had already been done.
"Chelsea Football Club once again solemnly and sincerely apologises.
"Kenedy’s actions were a mistake that he will learn greatly from.
"His behaviour does not represent the entire team and does not align with the club’s high expectations and strict requirements of its young players.
"He has been strongly reprimanded and disciplined.
"Everyone at Chelsea Football Club has the utmost respect and admiration for China and loves our Chinese fans.
"It is because of this that the negative impact we have seen over the last two days has left us shocked and saddened.
"Once again, we sincerely apologise for the hurt caused to our Chinese fans as well as to the Chinese people.
"The match was a great cultural exchange event between China and Britain and the club is extremely grateful to China for its hospitality, which has brought us closer together in friendship.
"We very much hope to build on our strong relationship with our Chinese fans and friends, joining hands firmly with China in future for further cooperation.
"We offer this apology with utmost sincerity.
"We have listened carefully to the criticism and will use the lessons learnt over the last two days to improve our processes in future."