Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana is confident of returning in time for his side’s pre-season campaign after not playing a single minute of football in 2023/24.
GMS sources have confirmed, while he also plans to return to ‘light group training’ next month.
Enzo Maresca has nothing short of a mountainous task on his hands with Chelsea’s return to European football and him overtaking from Mauricio Pochettino, who was just beginning to get a tune out of his star-studded roster.
Having the likes of Fofana at his disposal will, of course, help his cause. Especially given that leader Thiago Silva has now left the club, the likes of the Frenchman, Levi Colwill and his fellow countrymen Axel Disasi and Benoit Badiashile all need to step up to the plate.
Fofana Confident of Pre-Season Return
His fitness will be assessed in July
Through no fault of his own, the Frenchman is among the 14 Premier League players who value dropped the most across the season just gone. Persistent injury problems have meant that Fofana, 23, has spent the majority of his time at Stamford Bridge on the treatment table.
That said, however, GMS sources have revealed that he is ‘confident’ about returning in time for Chelsea’s five-game pre-season series in the United States. He missed out on the club’s pre-season campaign last summer thanks to an anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) injury – one that also prevented him from playing in the 2023/24 term.
While many players will be spending the off-season with their family or with their nations competing in Germany, Fofana will be putting in the hours behind the scenes to ensure that his recovery allows him to return to the turf by his provisional deadline.
It is only when Chelsea return in July to kick-start preparations for Maresca’s first season at the helm will Fofana be assessed by the club’s staff. Of course, they will treat the situation with an air of caution given the severity of his previous injuries – but all sides are hopeful that he will return in time.
