Chelsea have been dealt an enormous blow of their bid to resurrect their faltering kind after head coach Enzo Maresca admitted centre-back Wesley Fofana may miss the remainder of the season.
The 24-year-old has not performed since being substituted within the second half of final month’s 3-0 win over Aston Villa.
Maresca was unable to say whether or not the tear to his hamstring would require surgical procedure however nonetheless it’s a damaging blow to a participant that missed the whole thing of final season with an anterior cruciate ligament harm.
“Unfortunately he could be out for the season,” stated the top coach. “We don’t know exactly for the entire season but for sure he could be out for part of it.”
It was initially hoped that Fofana, who had fashioned a powerful partnership in central defence alongside Levi Colwill this season, could be out for no quite a lot of weeks.
That evaluation was made within the days following victory in opposition to Villa at Stamford Bridge on December 1, however additional assessments and evaluation seem to have condemned the France worldwide to one more season severely curtailed by harm.
He made solely 15 Premier League appearances in 2022-23, his first season after becoming a member of from Leicester in a £75million deal, whereas his time on the King Energy Stadium was additionally disrupted by health points.
His loss is additional compounded by the continuing absence of Benoit Badiashile, who changed Fofana in opposition to Villa and performed within the 4-3 win in opposition to Tottenham on December 8 however is anticipated to be out till February.
Chelsea may very well be with out Wesley Fofana for the remainder of the season
“Every time you ask me about Wes I said many times I am in love with Wes, because he is that kind of defender that gives you the chance to press and be aggressive and to leave in one vs one with (Ollie) Watkins,” stated Maresca.
“We did exactly the same when Wes was injured with Benoit, one vs one with (Dominic) Solanke and [both defenders] can deal with that. It’s very difficult to find that kind of defender. Now both are injured and we are trying to find different solutions.
Fofana has missed seven league video games thus far
“For sure, Wes is a huge loss.
“I do not assume this sort of harm may be in comparison with the remainder. This one is muscle and beforehand he hasn’t had any muscle issues, so it is fully totally different. It is a bit unfortunate, however he shall be again and he shall be good in the best way he was earlier than he was injured.”
Maresca is also set to be without Romeo Lavia for Saturday’s trip to Crystal Palace, the midfielder’s absence so far having coincided with a loss of form that has dropped Chelsea from second to fourth, though captain Reece James could start for the first time since November.
Fofana missed the whole thing of the festive interval
“Football is all about players,” stated Maresca. “We can have the best ideas but if you don’t have the players, you struggle.
“Romeo for us is a high participant and for positive with him we’re a greater group. We have gained video games with out him and we have misplaced video games with him however for positive we’re higher with him.
“We’re also a better team with Reece James. It’s all about players. I can give them the tools how to behave but if they’re not good enough we’re not going to win.”
Chelsea January switch window plans
Chelsea have the unresolved situation of a brand new striker left over from the summer season. They pursued Victor Osimhen proper to the deadline however no deal materialised and he’s now on mortgage at Galatasaray.
Since then they might hardly have requested for a greater begin to the season or for higher kind from Nicolas Jackson, who has been glorious because the central striker. It could be that this has modified the pondering as to what sort of new striker they want.
Ipswich’s spectacular hitman Liam Delap is thought to Chelsea head of recruitment Joe Shields and head coach Maresca from their time collectively in Manchester Metropolis’s academy and quite a lot of greater golf equipment like what they’ve seen from Delap thus far this time period.
Chelsea will not be anticipated to do a lot else until different gamers go away and one who is for certain to take action is Ben Chilwell after being frozen out of the squad. Carney Chukwuemeka is one other, whereas there may be additionally hypothesis round Christopher Nkunku and Axel Disasi.
