‘Unlucky’ Fofana could miss the season due to recent long-term injury
Wesley Fofana could miss the rest of the season as the centre-back has suffered a long-term injury for the fourth time since joining Chelsea in August 2022, coach Enzo Maresca said.
Frenchman Fofana, who joined the Blues from Leicester City for £70m plus £5m in add-ons, started all 12 Premier League games available to him this season before retiring in the third season Aston Villa sustained a hamstring injury in the 0-0 home win against the Blues on December 1st.
“After the tests we realized it was worse than we thought at the beginning,” Maresca said when asked why he had initially expected Fofana to be out for four or five weeks.
“Unfortunately we will be losing him for a while. I don’t think this type of injury is comparable to the others.
“He never had any muscle injuries before. It’s a different kind of injury. He’s a bit unlucky, but he’ll come back and be just as good as before.”
A late, late winner! 🇲🇦#CRYCHE 21/22 ⏮️ pic.twitter.com/IEVUZE4519
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 3, 2025
Fofana injury history
Fofana will have missed well over 100 Chelsea games until the 24-year-old recovers from his latest setback, which is his first since missing all of last season with a knee injury.
He missed more than ten weeks between October and December 2022 with a knee problem and was forced to miss nine games shortly afterwards with another knee problem.
Knee injuries caused the former France international to miss 40 games in the 2019/20 and 2020/21 seasons, and Leicester lost him for most of the 2021/22 season due to a broken leg.
Palace vs Chelsea
Chelsea travel to Crystal Palace on Saturday (3:00 p.m. GMT) aiming to win for the first time in four games and end a two-game losing streak after losing 2-1 at home on December 26 Fulham were beaten 2-0 at home by Ipswich Town on Monday.
“Against Fulham we were ahead until the 82nd minute and then conceded two goals,” said Maresca. “It wasn’t our day against Ipswich. Their desire to win the game and not concede a goal was greater.
NG with the winner at Selhurst Park! 💪#CRYCHE 18/19 ⏮️ pic.twitter.com/F1rKuNYwMq
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 3, 2025
“We don’t like losing games or losing points but that won’t affect our journey. Remember, this is a journey that started just five or six months ago.
“There are teams that have been together for five or six years and are fighting to win the Premier League. Manchester City, Arsenal and Liverpool are better prepared than us. We will be there – hopefully soon.
“I didn’t have to lose a game to understand that. I would have liked to have told you we were there because it’s not a bad thing – it’s a nice thing to be in the title race.
“I didn’t have to wait for two defeats in a row to prove I was right. I don’t think it’s bad form; We’ll just analyze it game by game.”
90.
NO #PL The player has made more total tackles and interceptions than Moi Caicedo this season. 🇪🇨💪 pic.twitter.com/fZyYtpvVUx
— Chelsea FC (@ChelseaFC) January 2, 2025
Maresca: Chelsea “never asked for the Champions League”.
Maresca reiterated that he was not given a target of finishing in the top four at the end of his first season as coach. “When I got to know the club, they never asked me if I wanted to play in the Champions League this season,” he added.
“They asked me to build a team that can fight for the title in two, three, four or five years.”
