Winners and losers from Wesley Fofana's transfer to Chelsea

Karan Tejwani

• 31 Aug 2022 14:09 BST
• 5 min read

Chelsea have completed a huge transfer to secure the signing of Wesley Fofana from Leicester City.

The young Frenchman arrives at Stamford Bridge for an initial fee of around £70 million (€81m), making him one of the biggest transfers in the history of the London club. He also becomes one of the most expensive centre-backs of all time with this switch.

Clearly, this is a huge statement of intent from the Blues, who have handed the player a seven-year deal in a remarkable show of trust given that he spent much of the previous campaign on the sidelines with a broken leg.

So, who are the winners and losers from this deal?

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Winners

Leicester

Not necessarily the first team in this case, but their negotiators did a great job of sticking to their guns and getting a big fee for a player they valued highly.

Fofana wanted to leave, and keeping him would’ve been a risk, but Leicester didn’t budge on their demands and got the fee they wanted from Chelsea.

Some could see Fofana’s behaviour as disrespectful, especially as they stuck by him with his injury issues, but they’ve done well to get the money they are and that can be reinvested in various areas.

Thomas Tuchel

One of the core objectives of the summer for Thomas Tuchel was to rebuild the backline after the losses of Andreas Christensen and Antonio Rudiger.

He’s done just that, having spent big to bring in the likes of Kalidou Koulibaly, Marc Cucurella and now Fofana into the team.

The pressure is on him now to make that work, and he can’t be complaining about his options, with new owner Todd Boehly providing sufficient support.

France national team

The French national team isn’t short of quality centre-backs, and they may just get another one soon as Fofana finds his feet at Stamford Bridge.

Tuchel is known to improve centre-backs – the likes of Marquinhos, Rudiger and Thiago Silva are all examples, and he could do the same here with Fofana.

Ahead of the World Cup, Fofana could come up as another option, one that could be welcomed by Didier Deschamps as Les Blues look to defend their crown.

Losers

Thiago Silva

This isn’t necessarily a big loss in the long-term, but with so much competition for the three centre-back slots, Thiago Silva may miss out.

Cucurella played as a left centre-back for a period of time at Brighton, so he could be used there, and with Silva approaching the final days of his career, he may miss out more often.

There’s enough experience at the back with Koulibaly there, with the Senegalese being one of the world’s best over the years and he may take up the Silva role in the coming months.

Paris Saint-Germain

The French champions have spent a portion of the summer chasing a new centre-back and one of their targets is now set for Chelsea.

They were willing to spend on a new defender, but not as big a fee as Leicester wanted, forcing them to look elsewhere, and they still haven’t brought anyone in beyond Nordi Mukiele.

Milan Skriniar is one of their options, but with the deadline looming, a deal will have to be concluded quickly if they are to improve the defence.

Brendan Rodgers

There’s been a bit of doubt recently over Rodgers’ transfer activity, and losing a player as good as Fofana will be a big blow as they scramble for replacements.

They’ve spent big money in recent times and not every signing has been a good one, and with plenty of money to now spend, there may be doubts over how well he can do in such little time.

This will be a defining point of the season and Leicester will have to get it right or suffer through another season of mid-table mediocrity.