Chelsea transfer blunder revealed as Maresca's worst fears realised

Tom Weber

Updated: 4 Jan 2025 13:56 GMT
3 min read

Enzo Maresca, Chelsea, 2024/25 — © IMAGO

Chelsea's failure to include a break clause in Trevoh Chalobah's loan deal is now coming back to haunt the club in the wake of Wesley Fofana's potentially season-ending injury.

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On Friday, Blues boss Enzo Maresca shocked supporters as he announced at his press conference that star defender Fofana may have already played his last game of the campaign. While the Frenchman does not require surgery, the extent of his hamstring injury has proved to be worse than initially thought.

"Unfortunately he could be out for the season, so we don't know exactly [if] for the entire season, but unfortunately he could be out for part of the season," Maresca said.

Naturally, the Italian was later asked about signing potential reinforcements in January as Benoit Badiashile is also out injured, leaving Chelsea short of reliable centre-back options.

"We'll see, now the focus is on tomorrow's game, that is an important game like the rest, so the focus is just about tomorrow, but for sure these two players, they're going to be out for a long time, so we'll see."

Chelsea left to rue Chalobah oversight

The game Maresca is referring to is Saturday's clash with Crystal Palace, which comes at an ironic time, to say the least. The Eagles, of course, boast Chelsea loanee Trevoh Chalobah in their defensive ranks, with the player excelling in recent weeks.

Chelsea were hellbent on getting rid of the academy graduate in the summer, freezing him out of the squad and essentially forcing him out of the club despite the fact that he was undoubtedly one of their most reliable defenders.

Now, their actions are coming back to haunt them as they could use a player like him to step in for Fofana. But alas, Chelsea did not include the customary January break clause in his season-long loan, meaning that they couldn't recall him even if they wanted to.

Palace, meanwhile, are absolutely delighted with Chalobah, who has scored a quite impressive three goals since the beginning of November. He has been immense for the Eagles and coach Oliver Glasner has hinted that they could look to make his stay permanent.