VALENTINA CERVATES has opened up on her split with Ezno Fernandez.

Last month the Chelsea midfielder stunned everyone, including Valentina, by splitting from his childhood sweetheart and mother of his two children, Olivia and Benjamin.

Fernandez, 23, announced he had taken the decision as he wanted to "live alone", ending a six-year relationship with his former fiancee.

Model and influencer, Valentina, first met the midfielder when she was 17 and he was 16, with the pair getting engaged that same year but never marrying.

She moved from Argentina to Portugal with him when he joined Benfica from River Plate, before then also joining him when he sealed a record-breaking transfer deal to Chelsea in January 2023.

And she has now lifted the lid on their shock split in an interview with Paparazzi magazine.

She said: "Everything was fine and suddenly one day he told me that he didn’t want to be anymore. There are things that I still have to process, but that’s it, I accepted it."

Valentina confessed that she cried for five minutes when Fernandez told her about the breakup, but her background of being the daughter of separated parents shaped her perspective.

On how they met, she said: "When we met, I worked in an empanada restaurant and studied Law.

"He was in River Plate and then played in the reserve team. When we moved in together, I changed jobs to a call centre near the Obelisk.

"At that time I earned more than his representative gave him, we spent my entire salary, I had nothing left to save. And after nine months I got pregnant with Olivia, I was 19 years old."

However, Valentina revealed she refused his offer to continue living in their London home with their kids.

She explained: "Enzo offered me to stay in the same house where we lived and told me that he was going to rent another place, but I told him I would go back to Argentina for my family.

"Because I gave everything in that relationship and I don’t regret anything, but everything I did was for him and for the family we formed."

Valentina admits that there is still love there for her now former long-term partner.

She added: "I think love is still there because it is very difficult for it to leave so quickly.

"I don't depend on a man or anyone to be happy. With the company of my children I will always be happy."

Fernandez was reunited with his children in the days following the breakup, with Valentina telling Minuto Uno: "It only took a few days, so luckily they were able to be with their dad and I was with them too, so it was great."

The World Cup winner's form took a dramatic up-turn for the Blues following the split, scoring three goals and eight assists from his 20 appearances that has seen him return to the first team.