Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana is going to be out for a long time after he has undergone surgery on his anterior cruciate ligament.
The Blues are about to begin their pre-season tour but the club have confirmed that the centre-back won’t travel to America and this is a big blow for Mauricio Pochettino.
Chelsea released a statement on Tuesday, which read: “Defender Wesley Fofana has undergone anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction surgery.
“The 22-year-old did not travel to America for the club’s pre-season tour due to specialist medical assessments, which unfortunately confirmed that an operation would be required. Wesley will now begin his recovery and work with the club’s medical department at Cobham during his rehabilitation phase.”
How long will Wesley Fofana be out for?
Wesley Fofana has been unlucky with injury because the 22-year-old had fractured his fibula during the 21/22 season forcing him to miss 41 games for Leicester City.
Now, this ACL reconstruction surgery means he is expected to miss the whole of the 23/24 season. Usually, it takes around eight to nine months to fully recover from this kind of surgery and because the new season starts next month, Wesley Fofana could watch the whole campaign from the stands.
If the rehab goes really well then the defender could be back in action for the last one or possibly one and a half months.
Will Chelsea try and sign a new central defender?
With Fofana out injured, Pochettino is left with Badiashile, Chalobah and Thiago Silva. Koulibaly has moved to Saudi Arabia while the likes of Malang Sarr and Ethan Ampadu aren’t going to feature for Chelsea next season.
This fresh injury blow means the new Chelsea boss is left with two scenarios right now, either he pushes youngster Levi Colwill up the pecking order and trusts him to back up Silva and Badiashile for one whole season or he goes out on the hunt for a new central defender.
Colwill is a highly talented defender but he’s only 20 years old and last season, he played only a handful of matches so there’s very little chance that he is going to take Fofana’s position in the side. Also, the youngster is wanted by several big PL sides so possibly the Blues are planning to sell him in the coming days.
According to a report in 90Min, Chelsea are now looking to bring in Manchester United’s Harry Maguire as a direct replacement for Wesley Fofana. Maguire has no future at United and Ten Hag is more than willing to cash in on him.
The England international has just been stripped of his captaincy which is why he too is thinking of joining a new club before the 23/24 season starts. West Ham and Spurs have shown an interest in signing him but with Fofana out for such a lengthy time, Harry Maguire could turn out to be a great signing.
Chelsea have brought in around £230 million from player sales this summer so paying £40-45 million for Harry Maguire shouldn’t be a problem for them. Whether the defender will be a success at Stamford Bridge is anyone’s guess but instead of putting faith in Levi Colwill, the new Chelsea manager will be more than happy to bring in Harry Maguire.
