French centre-half Wesley Fofana hasn’t had the best of times since joining Chelsea in 2022.
As talented as Fofana clearly is, the best ability is availability, and he has made just 37 starts for Chelsea.
That’s frankly mindboggling for a player who cost the Blues £70 million to sign from Leicester three seasons ago. Some Chelsea fans have begun to turn on Fofana.
But Fofana is one of Enzo Maresca’s favourite players, and when he’s healthy he starts. That’s his hope for the year ahead, as well as making up for a sickening turn of events last season.
Wesley Fofana desperate for trophies after missing out
While the Frenchman will have a couple of medals at home from Chelsea’s triumphs last season, he won’t feel fulfilled having missed the chance to help his side to that silverware.
That’s something he wants to change this campaign, as he told Chelsea’s website.
Fofana says: “I want more because I missed out. I am more concentrated on that. I want to feel those experiences and those moments. I am completely focused on that.
“Of course I want to make up for lost time, but you can’t get the time you missed back. It’s part of my life and my story, and it makes me hungrier to win. Now it’s important we stay together because it’s a long season as well. We have a lot of competitions to play for, and the objective is to go as far as we can in all of them and fight for everything.”
When you consider the human behind the player, it’s easy to sympathise with Fofana and the likes of Romeo Lavia, who just can’t get their bodies to cooperate with their attempts to play at the highest level.
And that’s what they want to do, more than anything.
Photo by Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty ImagesFofana credits Maresca for protecting him
As much as he wants to go hell for leather this season, Fofana is aware of the risks and appreciates the efforts Maresca is going to to keep him fit.
As he puts it: “In football it’s hard to take your time because there is a game every three days, but he [Maresca] protects me and he pushes me in a good way.
“I had hamstring surgery and you need to be careful when you come back. He doesn’t take risks with me because he wants, step by step, for me to be able to play every three days. The target is to play every game; we need to carefully progress step by step towards that.”
As careful as Maresca is being with his star defender, he too will be desperate to have Fofana back. The centre-back position has caused Chelsea nothing but headaches this season, and rumours have them linked to Barcelona’s Ronald Araujo.
But while he hasn’t lived up to the price tag in a blue shirt, Fofana obviously has quality — £70 million worth. If he can finally string together a full season, he might be the answer.
Fofana’s desire to get back into regular football is matched only by that of the fans who are yet to see the best of the 24-year-old over a sustained period.