Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana looks set to miss most of the coming season after undergoing surgery on a cruciate knee ligament injury that saw him miss his side’s visit to the United States.
“The 22-year-old did not travel to America for the club’s pre-season tour due to specialist medical assessments, which unfortunately confirmed that an operation would be required,” explained the Chelsea website on Wednesday.
Fofana has suffered further bad luck prior to a campaign in the past two years, breaking a leg in pre-season in 2021 and struggling with a knee problem last year after joining Chelsea. That limited him to just 20 appearances last season and he is now going to be out for at least six months and probably several more.
“It’s really sad: really bad news. We feel so sad. All we can do is to help him. We wish him all the best and hope that as soon as possible he can be with the team again this season,” commented Chelsea coach Mauricio Pochettino.
“It’s tough but we need to keep going, the competition is there, less than one month to the Premier League, the competition doesn’t wait for anyone, and we need to compete.”
“Hopefully everything goes well with his recovery and he can be ready as soon as possible before the end of the season,” added the coach.
Fofana’s injury means Chelsea may now go into the market to sign a new central defender. They could move for England defender Harry Maguire, who looks to be on his way out of Manchester United after being stripped of the captaincy by coach Erik Ten Hag.
Elsewhere, FC Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez has named a 29-man squad for his side’s pre-season visit to the United States.
Barca fly to California on Thursday afternoon, where they will play Juventus, Arsenal, Real Madrid and AC Milan, before returning to Spain on August 2 to face Tottenham in their traditional Joan Gamper pre-season tournament six days later.
New signings Ilkay Gundogan, Oriol Romeu and Inigo Martinez are all included in the traveling party, although Martinez, who joined as a free agent after running down his contract at Athletic Club Bilbao, is still recovering from a foot injury, which limited him last season.
Central defender Clement Lenglet, who spent last season on loan at Tottenham, and Moroccan international winger Ez Abde, who is back after a successful season with Osasuna, are also on the tour.
Furthermore, Xavi has called six players from Barca’s B team: goalkeeper Ander Astralaga, Alex Valle, Marc Casado, Mikayil Faye, Aleix Garrido, and Lamine Yamal, who last season made his Barca first team debut before celebrating his 16th birthday.
Following is the full squad: Goalkeepers: Ter Stegen, Inaki Pena, Astralaga; Defenders: Araujo, Christensen, Marcos Alonso, Kounde, Eric Garcia, Inigo Martinez, Lenglet, Mika Faye, Valle y Julian Araujo. Midfielders: Oriol Romeu, Pedri, Kessie, Sergi Roberto, De Jong, Gundogan, Gavi, Casado, Fermin y Aleix Garrido; Forwards: Dembele, Lewandowski, Ansu Fati, Ferran Torres, Raphinha y Lamine Yamal, Ez Abde.
