Back in 2022, in the heady, naive early days of Todd “Great Meals” Boehly’s ad-hoc sporting directorship, Chelsea made Wesley Fofana one of the most expensive center back transfers of all time (only Harry Maguire and Virgil van Dijk had cost more at the time; Joško Gvardiol then set the current record a year later).
Unfortunately, we’ve not seen much, if any return on that £70m (€80m) investment. That’s largely thanks to a series of major injuries, not to mention the ever-revolving coaching carousel,
but also hardly helped by his inconsistent performances and general inability to live up to his “generational talent” billing. For me, he’s always been a player who puts in the bare minimum of effort and relies far too much of falling down to draw fouls as a primary defending technique. Good defending doesn’t need to be effortful of course, and the best will certainly make it look easy, but you know, the second coming of Thiago Silva he ain’t.
We shouldn’t be writing off any player at age 25 of course, but as one of the highest paid players at the club, he’s not exactly serving his purpose. And with “just” three years remaining on his contract — a relatively short time compared to most others in the squad — he might also be one of the more movable pieces on this crumbling chessboard we’re calling Chelsea Football Club.
To that effect, there’s a story going around today, originally from Sacha Tavoleri at Sky Sports … Switzerland?, of Fofana being “recently offered” to FC Barcelona, who are looking to make some changes to their squad and are hoping to sign at least one center back. Alessandro Bastoni is said to be their primary target, but Fofana’s name is also on an “extended internal list”. Kinky.
The report claims that Chelsea are not opposed to this but are “waiting for an offer of at least €30 million”. That’s a ‘3’, not an ‘8’. Meanwhile, Barca would prefer a loan with an option to buy, since their financial situation offers a potential glimpse of our very own future as well. Presumably Chelsea would be a bit more opposed to such an offer.
The Daily Mail’s Kieran Gill adds that Fofana himself has “no intention” of leaving, though that might change if he continues to see absolutely zero minutes under interim yes-man Calum McFarlane’s management.
