Chelsea's French defender Wesley Fofana vies with Real Madrid's Brazilian forward Vinicius Junior. (Photo by PIERRE-PHILIPPE MARCOU/AFP via Getty Images)
Chelsea have released the 29-man squad they are taking to the United States of America for their pre-season tour.
They have a busy summer in the USA, where they take on five different teams in five different cities. The tour kicks off with a friendly against Wrexham on Wednesday, which will mark Mauricio Pochettino’s first game in charge of the club.
The Evening Standard have detailed the entire list of Blues stars who will travel to the North American country. Notable absentees include Romelu Lukau, who is linked with an exit this summer and Reece James, who has been left out as a precaution. Exit-linked players Hakim Ziyech and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang have also been left out.
Armando Broja is also recovering from an ACL injury while Benoit Badiashile and goalkeeper Marcus Betinelli are also absent. But one name that was missing from the 29-man shortlist that would have surprised the fans would be that of Fofana.
According to the report, the French centre-back is absent from the list and will not travel to the USA due to a knee injury. The club are apparently assessing the seriousness of the blow.
Fofana doesn’t really need an overly good pre-season to make a point. Those who watched him at Leicester City know all about the young defender’s talent — especially his defensive acumen and comfort when on the ball.
He can be moulded into a world-class modern centre-back, which is why Chelsea dished out a massive £75million last summer. But injuries seem to be hampering his development in west London.
He played just 20 times across competitions last season, including just 15 appearances in the Premier League. Those aren’t the numbers we were hoping for from a player we signed as a potential Antonio Rudiger/Andreas Christensen replacement.
It was his knee that put him out for extended spells in the 2022-23 season. Let us hope he hasn’t aggravated that old injury or hurt the same spot again. Knee injuries at this stage in a player’s career could have a long-term impact.
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