WESLEY FOFANA: ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW.
After a series of negotiations and perennial bidding wars, Chelsea has finally announced a full agreement to sign Wesley Fofana from Leicester City.
The Transfer saga
Historically, the Foxes have been fairly good at selling their talents. Sale of Riyad Mahrez to Manchester City for £60 mil, N’golo Kante to Chelsea for £30 mil, Danny Drinkwater to Chelsea for £35 mil, and Harry Maguire to Manchester United for a record £80 mil fee. But last year they didn’t have any major sales. COVID also impacted their finances. But more than the finances, it was extremely difficult for them to deal with a swollen squad. According to the latest FFP rules, they had to offload players before they could buy new ones. The France U21 international extended his contract with Leicester by two years in March 2022, keeping him at the King Power Stadium through 2027. Chelsea piqued interest in him only five months after his long-term commitment with the club. After the departure of Kasper Schmeichel to Nice, Leicester’s defense has already been fumbling, conceding 10 goals in the first 4 matches of the new premier league campaign. All of these factors added up to a staggering £85 million valuation for Fofana from the Leicester camp. Brendon Rogers, when asked about his availability, answered that he is not for sale. Chelsea started their negotiations with their first bid of £60 mil plus add-ons. But Leicester was nowhere close to agreeing on this deal. Meanwhile, personal terms with Fofana were quickly reached, as the youngster understood that Champions League football and regular game time in a premier club are critical to his chances in the FIFA World Cup, which begins in November. His only concern was Leicester pricing him out for a dream transfer move. But finally, after negotiating for more than a month and many bids later, Leicester have agreed on a 6-year deal for a record spent by Chelsea on a defender of £75 mil including add-ons.
Why Chelsea want him so bad?
According to the numbers, January 2022 was the turning point from a defensive point of view for Chelsea. Chelsea started to concede a lot of goals after January, as compared to a rather formidable defense earlier. Antonio Rüdiger confirmed his departure from Stamford Bridge way back before the transfer market opened. Andreas Christensen has joined Barcelona and Marcos Alonso will soon be joining him. Thiago Silva is 37 years old, and Chilwell was injured for more than half of last season. Ethan Ampadu’s and Trevoh Chalobah’s performances haven’t been convincing enough to start for Chelsea. Levi Colwill has been loaned to Brighton & Hove Albion. The pressure was building on Tuchel and his team to find men in defence and that too, in numbers. The arrival of Napoli star Kalidou Koulibaly, Marc Cucurella from Brighton, and the contract extension of skipper Azpilicueta did ease some pressure. Tuchel plans to play three at the back, and the number of defenders needed for this is still a problem. After a series of failed attempts to sign Joules Kounde, Chelsea aimed at signing Wesley Fofana. The 21-year-old has experience of playing five at the back in Leicester. Tall, sturdy, and agile are his key attributes, which make him perfect for his role as a young, promising center-back. With the likes of Thiago Silva, Kalidou Koulibaly, and César Azpilicueta around him, he need not worry about his grooming as a budding defender. Leicester has won 43.2% of the league games he has played in since his debut, compared to 38.5% of those without him. When he isn’t on the field, they give up 1.6 goals per game as opposed to 1.4 when he is. This makes the Frenchman a perfect choice for Thomas Tuchel.
What makes Wesley so special?
After hearing that a deal had been reached, former Foxes striker Gary Lineker tweeted,
“Gutted to lose him but wish Wesley Fofana well. Chelsea supporters, you now possess the world’s most prodigiously brilliant young central defender. I do think he’s that good, yes.”
With a height of 190 cm and an age as young as 21 years, Wesley Fofana ticks all the points off a checklist to become one of the top 5 defenders in the world in the next five years. His ability to maneuver the ball in high-press situations, his lightning-fast speed off the ball, and his ability to break and tackle make him a complete package as a prodigious defender. Fofana moved to Leicester City in October 2020 for £35.5 million from Saint-Étienne, where he carved himself a name and for whom he made 20 league appearances in total, scoring one goal. He is extremely good at reading the space in front of him and driving into it from the back. Yet to break into the senior French international team, Fofana aims to get better with time. One peculiar thing about him is that he is fast to cover for his mistakes during the game. He aims to lead from the back as his long-term goal, taking inspiration from his former club legend, Wes Morgan.
Vulnerabilities:
Even though Fofana looks like a perfect fit for Chelsea, there are some potential risks that Chelsea has to be aware of.
· Injury
Fofana faced a major setback to his career in last year’s pre-season after he had a knee injury in friendlies which made him miss most of the season. Even though he has shown no signs of setback after rejoining, how injury prone he is now is not determined.
· Lack of experience
Having started only 37 Premier League matches can be a small set of matches to analyze a player’s ability, especially for one who has only played only 7 matches in the last year. Investing in him for a long time can be a sensational hit or a glaring miss.
· Price-tag meltdown
With each passing season, we are witnessing transfer price records being broken. This season is like no other. With this comes expectations to value the price tag with performance. And if in a few of the starting games, the performance is sub-par, the meltdown is real. It’s not everyone’s cup of tea to handle such a meltdown.
· Change in team rapport
It can be difficult to adjust to a new environment. Chelsea’s playing style, as compared to Leicester’s, is very different. Mingling up with Kalidou and Thiago Silva to maintain the back line can also be difficult, looking at the age gap between the three.
Will the investments made by Chelsea turn out to be a hit like the one Liverpool made when they signed Virgil Van Dijk from Southampton, or will they succumb like when Manchester United signed Harry Maguire from Leicester City?
Only time will tell.