Not for the first time in his Chelsea career, Wesley Fofana has a big smile on his face.
The centre-back has just been told by The Athletic that he is the only signing left in the senior squad from the very first transfer window of the Todd Boehly-Clearlake ownership era — the summer of 2022. Clearly, it is something that had yet to occur to him.
“It is a good stat,” he laughs. “Levi (Colwill) is from the academy, but yeah, because Cucu (Marc Cucurella) has gone, I am the last. There is no secret (to him being the only one left). Everyone has taken a new decision. I have been at the club for a long time — it is OK, I do not feel old yet. I feel good. It is football; some players come, some players leave.”
Fofana joined from Leicester City for £69.5million four years ago. He was one of six major signings by Chelsea in that window, but Kalidou Koulibaly, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (both sold in 2023), Carney Chukwuemeka (sold, 2025), Raheem Sterling (contract terminated, 2026) and Cucurella (sold, 2026) have all gone. The USMNT goalkeeper Gabriel Slonina, who joined from Chicago Fire of MLS, is still at Stamford Bridge but the now 22-year-old was bought with the future in mind and has not made a senior appearance for the club.
Despite his relative longevity, Fofana has yet to win over the fanbase. Struggles with injury and inconsistent form are part of the reason. But some of his actions have given the impression to the watching public that he does not care enough.
(Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images)
For example, supporters were outraged at seeing him laughing on the bench during Chelsea’s 3-0 defeat by Paris Saint-Germain in the second leg of their Champions League last-16 tie back in March, a result which meant they went out 8-2 on aggregate. He had been dropped by then head coach Liam Rosenior and TV cameras also zoomed in on him joking with PSG forward (and team-mate for France) Ousmane Dembele after the final whistle that night.
A needless sending-off for two yellow card offences in their final league game at Sunderland, which was his second dismissal of the season, means he is suspended for the first two matches of 2026-27.
Fofana has also earned negative headlines for behaviour off the pitch, having been banned from driving for two years. He has accrued 50 points on his licence after 10 driving convictions, mostly for speeding. Twelve are normally enough to get a ban in the UK.
Conversely, he was pictured crying after Chelsea were beaten in the Carabao Cup semi-finals by Arsenal in February. He looked devastated when speaking after the 5-2 first-leg defeat by PSG a month later too. Hardly the actions of someone indifferent to what is going on.
So, does Fofana feel like he is misunderstood?
“In football, things can be like this. The club bought me for a very big transfer (fee), I came with the ambition to be the best in my position and to help the team. So when things go in a bad way, I accept to be the guy (who people blame).
“When I am on the bench a lot (and laugh), it is not a big thing. People try to make it a big thing, do a big story, things like this. The most important thing for me is that the club know my mentality, my team-mates know my mentality. If I am on the bench or on the pitch, of course I want to win, and I try my best for every game.”
(Julian Finney/Getty Images)
An even more significant indication of Fofana’s maturity is his strong stance against racism.
The 25-year-old has been on the receiving end of abuse on social media for years, and says he got his first message of this nature when he was “very young”.
Fofana always makes a point of highlighting it when it happens. For example, he flagged racist posts received on his official Instagram account after being sent off against Burnley in February. He wrote at the time: “2026, it’s still the same thing, nothing changes. These people are never punished. You create big campaigns against racism, but nobody actually does anything.”
This is obviously an important point of the interview, and the manner of his reply indicates a man who does take things very seriously, totally opposite to the perception of Fofana some observers appear to have.
“When I receive things like this, of course it hurts,” he explains. “It is very important for me or other players to show (what people are saying). I think we need to continue to talk about this. We need to educate people. I think the people behind Instagram need to work on that. I exposed this on Instagram and Twitter (now known as X) because I think they need to be more aware and be more conscious about this problem we have.
“It is not only football. I think the world is a little bit like this, and it is too easy to say some things. Sometimes I receive a message and I do not think these people are racists. They send monkey things because they are just not happy with the results. But if I score in the next game, the same people support me. We just need to educate, as it is not normal to talk like this.”
Fofana accepts that not every individual on the receiving end of such posts wants to go public and speak out. That is why he is even more determined to provide a voice on the matter.
“I see some young players receive the same messages and say nothing because they do not want people to talk about this or feel exposed. I know some guys do not like this but I feel it is my job — I don’t care if people say, ‘Wesley is always talking about this’. It is just my personality, and I am like this.
“It is something that does not touch (affect) me a lot. It just feels like a responsibility to do that. To show, explain, and that’s it.”
Conversation switches back to events at Chelsea and their disappointing 2025-26 season. They finished 10th in the 20-team Premier League, failing to qualify for the Champions League for the third time in the four years since Fofana arrived.
There were mitigating circumstances. Head coach Enzo Maresca deciding to leave the club in early January after being approached by Manchester City to succeed Pep Guardiola at the end of the campaign was one. His successor Rosenior struggled and was sacked within four months, plus there were injuries to key players including Colwill, Cole Palmer and Estevao Willian.
Wesley Fofana takes instructions from Enzo Maresca during a Champions League match against Ajax (Darren Walsh/Chelsea FC via Getty Images)
But Fofana concedes there was more to it than that.
“We had a lot of changes throughout the season,” he says. “Of course we can use this as an excuse, but I think it is the players — we did not give everything, we missed some games, we missed some performances, we missed a lot of things. I think everyone knows last season what was wrong. Everyone has looked at their face in the mirror.
“It is good, because now we can move on and go forward. I think there were some good things — not a lot of course, because we are not in Europe — but it is a good fix for the future. We can learn off that.”
New manager Xabi Alonso is already making a big impression on Fofana and the club. However, the defender is facing stiff competition for his place following the signing of France team-mate Maxence Lacroix from Crystal Palace for £52million.
Fofana still has reasons to be positive — he still has a role to play. Last season, he made 38 appearances for Chelsea, more than his first three at the club combined (34). When Alonso substituted him late on in Saturday’s 3-0 friendly victory over Milan, a game in which he shone, he made a point of giving Fofana a very warm embrace while saying a few words in his ear.
Even with Trevoh Chalobah completing a move to Como worth an initial £25million this week, Chelsea have 10 centre-backs in their first-team ranks. Alonso has already said he wants a maximum of four to five to work with, so can Fofana be one of them?
“Everyone needs to fight to win and keep their place,” he insists. “It is not only me. Everyone has to have this mentality. The most important thing is to give everything in the pre-season games (they have one more left, at home against Real Sociedad on Saturday) and training. I think we will see at the end of the pre-season. Everyone will have a discussion with the club and the manager, and everyone will take a decision.
“For me, the most important thing last season was to be fit, just to remove this from my head; the injuries and other things. It was the most important thing for me — to do one season without injury. Now I can focus on the other steps. I want to be good. I want to perform and help the team. I am ready to go, and that is good.”
Wesley Fofana scores for Chelsea against Leeds United at Stamford Bridge back in 2023 (Catherine Ivill/Getty Images)
Including interims, Alonso is the seventh different head coach, or in the Spaniard’s case, manager, Fofana has worked with during his Chelsea tenure.
The longest-serving of Alonso’s predecessors was Maresca. He was at the helm for 18 months and that coincided with Chelsea winning the UEFA Conference League and revamped and expanded Club World Cup last year.
“I think everyone knows we need stability,” Fofana concedes. “We talked last season with the directors and they said the same thing. They think the same way as the players.
“Of course we need results, because if you lose every game then you need to change something. But we need stability, and I think he (Alonso) is a good person for that. He is a young manager, we are a young team, and he was an amazing player, so he knows the details of the game, knows football, and we have a very strong staff. With this kind of setup, we can improve and be good enough to fight for everything this season.
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“The players had an amazing relationship with Enzo because we had time, worked with him and took time to get to know him and what he wants from the players, so with Xabi I think it is the same. We need to work, learn, know him like a manager and a person as well. With time, we can build something amazing.
“I think this is the most important thing for the club to build a strong relationship between the manager, players, staff and owners — with everyone looking the same way.”
One of the reasons Fofana was in tears after the Arsenal loss in the Carabao Cup semis earlier this year is that he does not feel he has won any silverware with Chelsea yet. He was left out of their Conference League squad throughout that competition, then missed the Club World Cup last summer through injury.
(Clive Mason/Getty Images)
Fofana, who still has three years left on his contract, cannot predict how long he will be a Chelsea player, but hopes to earn a winners’ medal on the pitch before he goes.
“I want to win a trophy with the club because it was my dream to come to Chelsea,” he concludes. “I won before (the FA Cup with Leicester City, beating Chelsea in the final, in 2021) and when I came I had very high ambitions. I wanted to win everything with the club, and it is still the same.
“When you see the players in the team, I think now we have everything (to succeed). Danny (Welbeck) and Jordan (Henderson) have come, and they have the roles to make everyone have a good mentality, because last season it was a bit of a problem.
“In every position we have two or three players that are amazing, so of course the future can be amazing. The most important thing is to continue to work, because every (other) team has progressed and we need to progress. We need to fight.”
Should Fofana help Alonso win a trophy in his first season as manager, surely some of his critics will be won over too.
