Wesley Fofana: One of Europe’s top center-back wonderkid

Source

Leicester City are involved in two of the biggest center-back transfers in history so far; the first was Harry Maguire to Manchester United for a fee of 87 million euros back in 2019. Despite paying such a hefty fee, however, Maguire has proven himself to be a failed investment from the club and is now out of the starting 11. The second is 21-year-old Wesley Fofana to Chelsea.

So, will Wesley Fofana, unlike Harry Maguire, live up to his heavy price tag? In this article, we will analyze his attributes, his playing style, and his potential for Chelsea.

A top prospect

Born in Marseille, France, Fofana started his youth and professional career at Saint-Étienne. Playing alongside William Saliba, Fofana made his professional debut at the age of 18, gradually becoming a regular starter for the club and eventually one of France’s top young center-back prospects. A strong, determined player, he provided some impressive performances, including a match against PSG in the final of the Coupe de France, and thus earned a move to Leicester City for a fee of 35 million euros. The 21-year-old would then play for them for 2 seasons; however, he, unfortunately, suffered a broken leg which left him injured for more than 200 days in his final Leicester season. Here are the statistics from his 2020/2021 season from FBRef per 90:

o Tackles won: 1.63 (95th percentile in the Premier League)

o Interceptions: 2.03 (93rd percentile)

o Carries into final third: 1.51 (90th percentile)

o Progressive Carries: 6.8 (93rd percentile)

o Long Passes completed: 10.03 (75th percentile)

o Aerials won: 3.74 (82nd percentile)

o Ball Recoveries: 11.1 (84th percentile)

o Fouls committed: 1.75 (6th percentile)

Driven and Fearless

Wesley Fofana, despite his age, is a player that already has good, strong attributes an ideal center-back would have. Throughout his young career, he has shown that he is energetic, assertive, and aggressive, especially when going for ground and aerial duels. Fofana is not afraid to make a hard tackle, and would often step out of his position, sometimes into the midfield, to make a tackle against the opposing player. However, with his desire to get out of his starting position often, the 21-year-old would occasionally get caught out of position, but he predominantly plays in a back three and has two defending teammates who can cover for him, namely Jonny Evans and Çağlar Söyüncü. He is also very fast and can make quick recovery runs if he makes a mistake.

Playing against PSG, 19-year-old Fofana is aware of Mauro Icardi’s run into the box | Source

Fofana intelligently uses his quick pace to get in front of Icardi to intercept Sarabia’s pass, preventing an almost certain goal | Source

Like many modern defenders, Fofana is adept at progressing the ball not only through passing but also through dribbling and ball carrying, which is his strongest technical attribute. Like his tackling, Fofana is aggressive with his dribbling; he loves to carry the ball forward into the midfield and sometimes even carry it towards the final third, using his quick feet and close control to get past defenders and create chances for himself or his teammates. His long passing is also decent; he has excellent technique to ping the ball forward or switch play towards the wing.

After making an interception against AS Roma, an off-balanced Fofana is pressured by Tammy Abraham in a dangerous position | Source

After Fofana recovers his balance, the youngster calmly and expertly uses his body to shield the ball from Abraham and carries the ball forward | Source

A headless chicken…

Despite his aggression and bravery being his best mental attributes, his aggression is also a weakness in his game. Fofana will often make bad defensive decisions due to his aggressive playing style and even though he is capable of recovering his mistakes through his quick pace, not all mistakes can be recovered, especially when playing at the highest level, and will sometimes become a liability for his teammates and his team’s defensive shape. Fortunately, he hasn’t been severely punished by his opponents for these mistakes, however, once he plays for Chelsea, bigger expectations will be on his shoulders, especially with the club paying such a large sum of money for the Frenchman.

Fofana has a tendency to ball-watch, often not tracking runners like Martinelli in this game against Arsenal | Source

Fortunately, Gabriel Jesus did not opt to pass to Martinelli and misses his shot, while Fofana is still ball-watching and is out of the game | Source

Weak decisions are often a result of weak awareness of the events happening around a certain player, and for Wesley Fofana, it’s another area he must improve on. The 21-year-old almost never checks his shoulder when defending and as a result, he is not aware of opposition attackers making runs into the box and is caught off guard time and time again due to wingers or strikers running in behind him. As previously mentioned, he rarely gets punished for his ball-watching; however, if he doesn’t improve on this important skill, he will eventually help Chelsea lose crucial games in the Premier League and in Europe.

In the same game against Arsenal, Partey and Martinelli are just outside of the box and with no one marking them, it makes sense for Fofana to close them down | Source

However, Fofana closes down too early, resulting in the 21-year-old being out of position and conceding a goal from Martinelli | Source

Conclusion

In short, Wesley Fofana is a player with significant potential; at just 21 years old, he shows intent, ambition, and aggression in his pressing and tackling, and loves to take risks in terms of carrying the ball forward into the midfield. However, he still must fix his poor defensive awareness, especially with tracking strikers and wingers making runs behind him, but with the right guidance from his experienced teammates such as Thiago Silva, Fofana can become a world-class defender in the near future.