Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana hasn’t played for the Blues since the start of December, but his hamstring problems might not be as serious as manager Enzo Maresca fears
Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana apeears to have rubbished suggestions from manager Enzo Maresca that his season is over due to injury.
Fofana, who joined in a big-money move from Leicester in the summer of 2022, missed several months of his debut season with a knee problem. An ACL rupture in July 2023 kept him out of action for the entirety of last season, but he worked his way back to fitness in time to start for Maresca early this term.
After playing 12 of the first 13 league games under Maresca, the Frenchman has been missing with a hamstring problem since early December. He suffered a setback in his recovery, leading the manager to publicly fear the worst.
“Unfortunately he could be out for the season,” Maresca said of Fofana. “We don’t know exactly but he could be out for part of the season. Every time you ask me about Wes, I said many times I am in love with Wes.”
“It was the first update and the first information we had but having a test, we realised it was worst than what we thought at the beginning. It is hamstring and unfortunately, we are going to lose him for a while,” the manager added. However, Fofana sees things differently.
“It’s not true!” the 24-year-old wrote in an apparent message to a fan account (as reported by Metro). “I’m not out for the rest of the season, I don’t know why he [Maresca] said that. I will be back in 4-6 weeks.”
Chelsea recorded three clean sheets in 12 games involving Fofana in the league. However, they have managed just one shutout in the eight matches he has missed.
Will Wesley Fofana play again this season? Have your say in the comments section
Chelsea dropped points away at Crystal Palace on Saturday, with Jean-Philippe Mateta scoring a late equaliser to cancel out Cole Palmer’s opener. Teenage defender Josh Acheampong was handed a first Premier League start at centre-back, with Maresca hailing the youngster.
“For me all the players were good today, but if I have to decide for one, I think for sure Josh was our best player, because of his age, because it was his first game,” Chelsea’s manager said after the draw. For me Josh can be a top player for this club, but he needs the right path, the right moment.
“With young players you have to decide which moment is right for them. We decided yesterday was his moment because we saw that he is ready and I think he showed how good he is.
“Now, again because of his age, he needs to slow down, work hard and take the next chance. We knew already that Josh is good enough and he showed that he is ready.”
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