Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca admitted Wesley Fofana “could be out for the season” with a hamstring injury than first feared.
Fofana has been plagued by injury concerns since injuring his knee in October 2022, months after arriving from Leicester City in a deal worth around £69.5m. The Frenchman missed four months before tearing the cruciate ligament in his other knee at the end of his debut season.
A late return to full fitness at the start of the current campaign, Fofana started 12 of Chelsea’s first 13 Premier League matches – just waiting for the trip to Liverpool due to suspension. The 24-year-old stopped at the beginning of December because of a hamstring and at first he waved his hand like “nothing serious”.
However, after a month on the sidelines, Maresca told reporters on Friday, “Wes [Fofana] it will be out for a very long time. Unfortunately, he could be out for the season. We don’t know exactly, but he could miss part of the season. Every time you ask me about Wes, I’ve said many times that I’m in love with Wes.”
The Italian coach did not go into details, but confirmed that Fofana will not need surgery “at the moment”.
While the Blues will be without Fofana for the foreseeable future, they are set to bring back another injury-prone defender for Saturday’s trip to The Crystal Palace. Maresca revealed club captain Reece James is “fine in a few minutes” at Selhurst Park.
The captain had only made four appearances in the entire season so far sustaining another hamstring problem in November. James sat on the bench for Chelsea’s 2-0 defeat at Ipswich Town on Monday night and is set to take the field in south London.
Fellow defender Benoit Badiashile is not expected to return until February, while midfielder Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall remains sidelined with a knock. There was positive news for Romeo Lavia, a player Maresca claimed was “very close to returning”.
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