BATTLE TO SAVE FACE

FROM BACK PAGE threatened to treat the club as “persona non grata”.

The FA have confirmed that they have written to the club and Kenedy, asking for an explanation.

The 21-year-old is set to be charged for videos he posted on Instagram that sparked the fury in Beijing.

The first was headed “Porra china” – or “F ***** g China” in Portuguese. A second showed a security guard slumbering against a wall with the words “Acorda china Vacilao” – “Wake up China Lazy”.

Kenedy was sent home on Monday and posted an online apology, but Chinese fans remain furious and the controversy threatens to cost the club millions.

The People’s Daily, the flagship publication of the Communist Party in China, had called on Chelsea to take a zero-tolerance approach towards Kenedy.

It said: “He has created an incident that has humiliated China, an incident that so many fans simply cannot tolerate.”

“Kenedy’s absurd comments are not only impolite, but uneducated.”

Kenedy is now set to be farmed out on loan for the coming season.