The former club of Chelsea new boy David Fofana have written to FIFA asking for the transfer to be cancelled.
The 20-year-old has signed for the Blues in a £8 million switch from Molde, penning a six-year contract with the two-time Champions League winners after international clearance was provided.
Fofana was at Stamford Bridge on Thursday for Chelsea's 1-0 loss to Manchester City and was named on the bench for the same fixture on Sunday in the FA Cup at the Etihad Stadium.
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However, Fofana's first club have written to FIFA in an attempt to try and axe the deal. The forward started out playing for Abidjan City in his native Ivory Coast before later joining the Amadou Diallo Football Academy on loan in 2019.
As per the Daily Mail, Abidjan say that his first professional transfer to Molde, which was on a free in February 2021, was "unlawful" and have been left "outraged" by him joining Chelsea.
There was a row between the club and Fofana's mother over whether she signed a consent form in 2016, when Fofana would have been just 15.
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"We, therefore, invite you to intervene with the Chelsea club so that the player’s transfer is suspended until the dispute between the Molde FK club and ourselves is settled," club president Marco Taddei.
Chelsea, meanwhile, appear calm over the situation and have no doubts regarding his registration with them.
Fofana, along with new £32.7 million signing Benoit Badashille, were both amongst the subs against City in the FA Cup third round.
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The youngster was handed his debut at half-time and played on the left side of the Chelsea atack.
It was his first game since November and before the game Graham Potter stressed the need to play it carefully with Fofana.
“It’s too early to say," he said.
"He’s an exciting player so we’re open-minded about it. He’s been on a bit of a break so we’ll give him some time to train and assess him, then find out the best solution in terms of how to take the next step of his career.”
Topics: Chelsea, Premier League, Graham Potter