Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana's potential return to the the Blues squad has been revealed after his World Cup chances have been confirmed.
The Frenchman was the west London side's most expensive signing of the last transfer window. He completed a sensational move from Leicester City in what turned out to be a club-record amount spent overall in the summer by Chelsea.
The 21-year-old completed his transfer the day before Deadline Day and was signed for £75 million.
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The Blues had to bolster their backline after losing both Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen on free transfers to Real Madrid and Barcelona respectively.
Before the arrival of Fofana, Chelsea had already made moves for Kalidou Koulibaly and Marc Cucurella to add strength and depth.
Adding Fofana to this further solidified the defence and gave the Blues options to choose from at the back. Fofana appeared in his first game under the management of Thomas Tuchel against West Ham. He made a very good impression in the 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge.
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However, just one game later, things would change at Chelsea for Fofana after he'd just begun to settle in.
Graham Potter was announced as the new head coach following the decision to sack German manager Tuchel.
While Fofana was an unused substitute in Potter's first game in charge, he was back in the side for the next two. The central defender even went on to score his first goal for the club in the Champions League against AC Milan.
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In an impressive 3-0 win against the Rossoneri, he scored the opening goal of the game.
Unfortunately though, despite the massive victory, the huge negative from the game was that Fofana limped off injured just a short while after his goal.
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The Blues have already had to contend with injury problems this season, with the likes of N'Golo Kante, Mateo Kovacic and Edouard Mendy as well.
With the recent news of Reece James' injury that he picked up against AC Milan in the reverse fixture being worse than first feared, the defence is in a tricky spot.
Ahead of Chelsea's weekend fixture against Aston Villa, Potter addressed the media in his press conference and touched upon Fofana's status.
He said: "He is just progressing where he was. I don't think we will see him before the World Cup."
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The injury will have significantly dented any hopes of playing for France in Qatar. Chelsea will just be hopeful that over that period he can get some rest and be fit and ready for when the season resumes at the back end of December.
Topics: Chelsea, Wesley Fofana, Graham Potter, Football
Sam Collins