Chelsea apologise to Chinese fans over Kenedy's 'offensive' social media posts

Premier League champion Chelsea have tendered an apology to their Chinese supporter for the social media posts made by Kenedy before his side's comfortable 3-0 win over Arsenal at the Bird's Nest in Beijing.

Kenedy was jeered during the pre-season friendly and has since apologised for his comments, and said any offence caused by now-deleted posts was "not intentional", reports the Guardian.

"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," read a club statement.

"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," the statement added.

The statement further stated that Kenedy's actions were a mistake that he would 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," read the statement.

Kenedy, who joined Chelsea in 2015, made three appearances on loan at Watford last season.

He had earlier issued an apology -- since deleted -- on his Instagram account stressing that he had not intended any racism and said: "Just wanna say sorry if someone was sad."

-ANI