Why you shouldn’t rule out Chelsea’s best defender who Enzo Maresca loves just yet

It’s the 29th day in July – time to check out how our number 29 is getting on this month.

Defenders suffers another nightmare year

Wesley Fofana applauds the fans.

It’s one of the hardest players of all to assess – Wesley Fofana. There is no doubt that he’s not just a fantastic player, he’s also one of Enzo Maresca’s favourites. The Italian coach landed on a central defensive pair of the Frenchman alongside Levi Colwill as his favoured setup right from the moment he arrived at the club a year ago.

Fofana played regularly for the Blues from the start of the season until the start of December, when he injured his hamstring. He came back and played two games in March before eventually having surgery to fix the problem more directly.

Even by June when we jetted off to play in the USA at the Club World Cup, Fofana was left out in order to continue rehabbing at Cobham. That shows that we shouldn’t be too excited about a return, although playing in August shouldn’t be off the cards given that will be almost 6 months after the procedure.

What to expect from Fofana this season

Much like Reece James, we expect Fofana to be treated incredibly carefully. Leaving him out of the CWC squad was just the beginning. If and when he is ready, he will play a maximum of one game a week, barring emergencies, just like James last season.

What’s crazy is that Fofana is still just 24. Year after years of issues have made people write him off quite understandably, but he could feasibly have two years in a row without a hitch and force everyone to get a little bit hopeful – and he’d still be just 26.

It’s impossible to rely on him – but it’s also not time to write him off forever yet. Like James, he just needs to take it step by step.