This is actually something I have mentioned on here a few times of late as well. Wesley Fofana has concerned me, which has caught me off guard a bit.
I’ve always rated Fofana and was buzzing when we signed him. I think he’s always going to be a very solid centre back in terms of his commitment, tackling, intercepting, energy, and passion. But there are some concerns that I have noticed, but I’m not sure whether this is enough to really highlight as a big issue yet or not.
Fofana is erratic. He makes too many clumsy fouls. He also panics on the ball at times or takes a heavy touch in possession. Playing out from the back, using Fofana, concerns me a bit too. He’s a little headless at times.
Former Chelsea defender Frank Leboeuf, who is a fellow Frenchman of Fofana, is also clearly concerned about him.
Now we all know that Frank has had some wild Chelsea takes lately, but I think this one he’s probably right to mention.
He said after the Newcastle game:
“At one point, we will talk about Wesley Fofana because he worries me.”
I think he is starting to worry more than a few people as well.
We all know that the defence and goalkeeper is our weak link right now, we have seen it too often. There’s lapses of concentration at the back and overall, I think we just need to bring in a dominant and confident centre back to instruct it all at the back (and new goalkeeper obviously).
I don’t want to throw Fofana away and write him off. I’ve always liked him, and he’s got a lot of great assets too and can bring a lot to our team. His mentality and work rate is strong, and defensively he can be a real positive.
But I do think that we have some causes for concern here at the moment. Can he turn those concerns around like other Chelsea players have done this season? 100%, of course he can. Let’s hope he does.
We also have to note that he didn’t play at all last season, so there might just be natural teething problems settling back in and playing again, which is natural and completely fine.