Chelsea is still keen to get rid of striker David Datro Fofana, whose transfer to Greek team AEK Athens fell through on Wednesday, according to sources.
Before the Greek transfer window closed on Wednesday night, Chelsea and AEK reportedly reached an agreement on a loan with a £20 million buyout option. However, the deal fell through.
Issues surfaced at the last minute. AEK may have “walked back” on their original verbal agreement with Chelsea, according to a 90-minute report.
With the transfer market in Turkey being open until Friday, Fofana may end up there since Enzo Maresca’s team hasn’t given up on finding a buyer this summer.
Fofana was on loan to two different clubs during the 2023–2024 season. When he first joined Union Berlin, he made just 27 appearances and only managed two goals.
After going on loan to Burnley, he scored four goals in fifteen games at Turf Moor, but the Lancashire team was unable to avoid relegation.
Fofana has a limited amount of time left to negotiate his departure from Stamford Bridge, and it appears that Maresca has no intention of giving him a chance in the starting lineup.
Fanara is one of several players from Chelsea’s so-called “bomb squad” that the team is keen to let go to balance the books following yet another summer of lavish expenditure. Chelsea is determined to offload the player.
The Blues managed to generate £147m from player sales this summer – the most of any club in Europe. To try and counteract the £220m spent on new arrivals, they parted ways with Conor Gallagher, Romelu Lukaku, Ian Maatsen, Omari Hutchinson, and seven other players.
Chelsea would benefit in this way from selling Fofana, but it is still unclear if any Turkish clubs would be willing to match his £20 million asking price.
TEAMtalk was notified by sources that Everton and Chelsea have discussed a possible summer transfer for Fofana.
We are aware that the Toffees discussed pursuing a loan for Fofana and trade for Dominic Calvert-Lewin, but in the end, they decided against it.
In the end, Everton borrowed Armando Broja for the entire season from Chelsea. At the end of the season, they have the option to purchase the Albanian for £30 million.
This summer, another Fofana nearly departed Chelsea.
In an interview with Free Foot, Chelsea defender Wesley Fofana disclosed that he contemplated joining his hometown team Marseille this summer instead of staying with Chelsea.
TEAMtalk had already learnt from sources that Chelsea was willing to let go of centre-backs Axel Disasi and Benoit Badiashile, but Maresca thinks Fofana can still be a vital member of his squad.
Since moving to Stamford Bridge, the £80 million defender’s career has stagnated. During his first two seasons, he missed more than 70 games due to three different knee problems.
Fofana has started all three of Chelsea’s Premier League games this season and is finally fully recovered. He will be looking to return to the form he displayed at the King Power before his terrible injury.
Do Chelsea’s alternatives for strikers suffice?
It will be fascinating to see if Maresca’s present striker is enough to propel the Blues into the top four, as David Datro Fofana may yet leave Chelsea this summer or is unlikely to play in the starting lineup.
Victor Osimhen of Napoli was the Blues’ main target for the whole of the transfer window. They had discussions with the player right up until the last minute of the transfer window, but they were eventually unable to agree.
At the moment, Chelsea has five players who can play as strikers through the middle: Marc Guiu, Joao Felix, Nicolas Jackson, Deivid Washington, and Christopher Nkunku.
Nkunku, who has scored 86 goals at the club level while playing for Chelsea, RB Leipzig, and Paris Saint-Germain, is the most productive forward of the four.
The France international scored 35 goals in all competitions during the 2021–2022 season, making him the only player on this list to break the 30-goal mark for a season.
Felix comes in just behind with 69 goals at the club level, albeit 20 of those goals came in his 2018–19 season as a rookie at Benfica.
Not one of the five complete seasons that have since passed has seen the Portugal international score more than ten goals across all competitions.
In the summer of 2023, Jackson signed a £31.8 million contract to join Chelsea from Villarreal, but he had only scored 13 goals in his first team.
Since then, the 23-year-old striker has scored 19 more goals, ranking second on Chelsea’s scoring chart for the 2023–2024 campaign.
While his raw potential is evident, he isn’t a ferocious goalscorer and he missed a total of 24 good chances in his maiden Premier League campaign.
Deivid Washington scored two first-team goals for Santos before joining Chelsea in a £17.1million move in 2023 and has impressed at Under-21 level, but the 19-year-old is yet to score for the Blues.
As the youngest alternative available to Chelsea, Guiu, 18, is regarded as one of the best possibilities in European football.
However, the Barcelona Academy alumnus is still getting used to playing with the first squad and has only scored two goals in his professional career.
Chelsea may try to add a striker in January to boost their chances of qualifying for the Champions League after considering their available choices.