Wesley Fofana: Why Chelsea must consider a sale this summer

Cameron Smith

29 Apr 2025 09:00 CDT
4 min read

Chelsea took a calculated risk when they paid a whopping €80.4 million to sign Leicester City defender Wesley Fofana back in 2022, and, three years later, it’s fair to say that risk hasn’t paid off.

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Fofana was widely considered to be one of the biggest centre-back prospects in European football following his emergence alongside William Saliba at Saint-Etienne, and his reputation exponentially grew during his stellar debut campaign at Leicester.

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Current ETV

Wesley Fofana

D (CR)

Chelsea

Wesley Fofana

D (CR)

Chelsea

ETV Range

€27.4M - €33.5M

The Frenchman was a standout performer under Brendan Rodgers throughout his first season in England, but his career was abruptly halted by a broken leg suffered against Villarreal during a pre-season friendly in August 2021.

Fofana was sidelined for seven months due to the injury and was only able to return to first-team action in March 2022. Five months later, he was a Chelsea player.

The now 24-year-old was one of the first major signings of the Clearlake Capital era at Stamford Bridge and the club agreed to pay just over €80m to acquire his signature after weeks of negotiations with Leicester.

Fofana arrived in west London with a stellar reputation, but a somewhat concerning injury record, given he missed 18 games during his final year at Saint-Etienne due to knee issues and was sidelined for almost the entirety of his last season with Leicester.

Since moving to Chelsea, Fofana has been unable to shake the latter tag and, in fact, his injury record can no longer be described as “somewhat concerning.” It’s now a major concern and it’s something that has derailed the career progression of a supremely talented footballer.

Following his absence versus Everton on Sunday, Fofana has now missed a total of 100 games through injury since his move to Chelsea, racking up just 34 appearances for the club during that time.

The one-time France international has impressed whenever he has featured for the Blues, but he is the most injury-prone player at Chelsea, which is some achievement given Reece James and Romeo Lavia are also employed by the west London giants.

James, Lavia and Fofana have all been fairly carefully managed by Enzo Maresca this season, however the Frenchman looks as though he needs a miracle to stay fully fit for a consistent period of time.

After missing the entirety of last season with an ACL injury, Fofana started 12 of Chelsea’s first 13 Premier League games of the campaign, forming a solid partnership with Levi Colwill and helping the club climb towards the summit of the English top flight table.

However, his hamstring injury in early December was soon followed by Chelsea’s immense downturn in form and after a brief return in March, Fofana was subsequently ruled out for the rest of the season after undergoing hamstring surgery.

Why Chelsea should consider selling Wesley Fofana

When fully fit, Fofana is certainly a huge asset for Chelsea; his ability in possession enables the Blues to fluidly progress play up the pitch at ease and he is also an immense one-vs-one defender.

However, his injury issues mean Chelsea simply can’t rely on him.

STATS

Wesley Fofana

D (CR)

Chelsea

Wesley Fofana

D (CR)

Chelsea

14

Games
0

Goals
0

Assists

With the club looking to oversee a fairly major centre-back overhaul this summer, offloading Fofana should definitely be under consideration if the club believe his injury record has no chance of improving.

Marc Guehi and Dean Huijsen are both being pursued by Chelsea, and could be able replacements for Fofana, while the club would be extremely foolish to sell Trevoh Chalobah, despite widespread reports he will depart on a permanent deal.

Chalobah was the Blues’ best centre-back last season and he has regained that reputation since returning from a successful loan spell at Crystal Palace in January.

With Renato Veiga also impressing on loan at Juventus, Chelsea certainly have enough options to consider selling Fofana and with Marseille chasing a deal, an exit wouldn’t be the worst idea this summer.