Chelsea head coach Enzo Maresca has revealed that Wesley Fofana is facing several “weeks” on the sidelines with a hamstring injury.
Asked about the defender’s fitness in his pre-match press conference ahead of the Southampton match, Maresca replied:
“We don’t have any update [on Fofana] at the moment. It happened two days ago so we need to wait a little bit. We are hoping to get some more news in the next days but for sure, he will be out for the next weeks, for sure.”
Fofana was taken off in the second half of the 3-0 win over Aston Villa at the weekend, having seemingly pulled his hamstring after slipping on the ball. It was an unfortunate incident but typical of the luck that the Frenchman has had with injuries since arriving at Stamford Bridge two and a half years ago.
The Chelsea star has missed so many games due to injury
Since signing from Leicester City for £75m in August 2022, the centre-back has picked up three separate knee injuries, in addition to his latest issue.
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It has meant that Fofana has missed 77 matches for club and country in total. With so many fixtures coming up between now and the New Year too, there is the potential for him to be sidelined for another 5 or 10, depending on how long he is out for.
Who could replace Fofana at centre-back?
The Blues are not exactly short of options in the middle of defence. Tosin Adarabioyo would be the most likely candidate to come into the starting lineup, considering he is a right-footed defender.
However, Maresca did replace Fofana with Benoit Badiashile against Villa, while the Frenchman did start versus Leicester City as well, despite the fact that it would mean playing two left-footed centre-backs.
The other player that Maresca can call upon is Axel Disasi, although he has found himself quite far down the pecking order since the new manager’s arrival in the summer.
Find out who is in Chelsea’s first-team squad for the 2024/2025 season here