We sat down with Wesley Fofana this week to discuss his return to the first-team fold and why he is hungrier than ever to win silverware with Chelsea…
It is with a spring in his step and a smile on his face that Wesley Fofana greets us at Cobham. Training has just finished and, while numbers are diminished owing to the international break, Fofana says it was another good session.
Happily, the 24-year-old is becoming accustomed to those. Injuries have disrupted his three previous seasons at Chelsea, but in 2025/26 it has been a case of so far, so good. Aside from a handful of games missed observing concussion protocols, Fofana has been in every matchday squad this season.
He has started half of our league games, including the last two where his presence undoubtedly contributed to well-deserved clean sheets.
Tottenham and Wolves barely mustered a chance between them, and it was noticeable how Fofana’s speed across the ground stifled any hopes the opposition had of mounting a rare counter-attack.
‘The best feeling is when you can be on the pitch and help the team win games,’ says Fofana.
‘Helping the team, this is the nicest feeling,’ he repeats, emphasising the point. ‘I feel very good now. I’m working hard to stay fit, to stay strong and to continue to help the team win.’
Fofana acknowledges he is still on the road to full fitness following the hamstring injury he suffered earlier this year. He is training as normal but continues to be carefully managed by Enzo Maresca and the club’s medical staff.
The France international is grateful for that patience and attentiveness, even though he would love to be starting every game for the Blues.
‘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,’ says Fofana.
‘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. Also, he protects me because of the type of player I am: aggressive, fast, not scared to have duels on the pitch. I understand it, and it’s what I feel as well. I agree with it. The most important is to continue to progress.’
In his time on the pitch this season, Fofana has featured at centre-back and once at right-back. Maresca expects the Frenchman to cover plenty of the pitch, particularly when one of our full-backs is inverting to bolster midfield numbers.
Fofana says he is comfortable fulfilling that role. ‘When the coach puts me in a certain position, I know why. I have had a lot of discussions with him and I trust him. We have a good relationship, and I give everything for him and for the team.’
A big character in the dressing room, Fofana is an ebullient young man capable of lifting spirits even when he has been sidelined. That personality was evident at the Club World Cup this summer when he joined the squad in Philadelphia to continue working on his recovery and spend quality time with his team-mates.
He saw first-hand how hard it was for them to contest the tournament at the end of a long season, and against teams of such quality. Our eventual conquering of Paris Saint-Germain, the best side in his homeland and indeed Europe, left him feeling ‘very happy and very proud’ of what was achieved by the squad.
Not being on the pitch for that triumph, and our Conference League victory in Wroclaw, has fuelled Fofana’s determination to play a major part in fresh Chelsea successes this season.
‘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. And my objective is just to stay with the team, and fight for everything with the team.’
Chelsea will be all the better for it.