Handling hate and seeking stability - Fofana's Chelsea journey has played once for France, in 2023ByNizaar KinsellaFootball reporter from Hong KongPublished8 hours agoWesley Fofana shed tears, faced criticism for laughing at the wrong moment and exposed racist abuse last season - but now he believes stability will lead to an "amazing" Chelsea future.The 25-year-old centre-back has been a controversial figure because of the difficulties he has faced since his £75m move from Leicester City in 2022.However, he is also a survivor. He is the last remaining signing from that summer and, following Marc Cucurella's move to Real Madrid, Chelsea's longest-serving player aside from academy graduate Reece James."Football is like this. It moves fast, but it is a good stat," said Fofana.
"For me, some years were difficult, but now I'm back. I'm playing, I'm fit."Fofana is right to be optimistic.He is young, featured heavily under new manager Xabi Alonso in pre-season, and fit and healthy after injury troubles in recent seasons. Well, almost."Thanks, Filip," he jokes, referring to goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen punching him during an aerial challenge and denying him a truly injury-free campaign last season.Still, Fofana says "small details" have helped him stay fit having broken his leg at Leicester before overcoming an ACL injury and hamstring surgery at Chelsea."For me, the most important thing last season was to be fit, just to remove this from my head - the injuries and other things," he explained.'I accept criticism - but not racism' ly started 46 Premier League games since joining Chelsea four years agoFofana reiterates it was his "dream" to join Chelsea, the club he supported as a boy growing up in Marseille, through his admiration for the Blues' former striker Didier Drogba.However, Chelsea finished 10th in the Premier League last season and failed to win a trophy.Fofana was arguably the fall guy for many supporters, not helped by footage of him laughing on the bench during a heavy Champions League defeat by Paris St-Germain in March.He said it was not as significant as some made out and that those inside the club "know my mentality", but added: "When the team is not doing well, we need to find someone [to blame].
I can accept that."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 badly, I accept being the guy [people blame]."The France defender could easily have pointed the finger at Chelsea themselves.
Former manager Enzo Maresca left the club after a falling out with the hierarchy, while his replacement Liam Rosenior oversaw a five-game winless run without a goal and lost the support of large sections of the dressing room during his four-month spell."Of course we can use this as an excuse, but I think it's the players," said Fofana. "We didn't give everything. We lost some games, we produced some poor performances and we missed a lot of things."Of course you can't bring that into the new season, but I think everyone knows what was wrong last season.
Everyone looked at themselves in the mirror."There is a line that cannot be crossed.Fofana, a Muslim whose father is from Ivory Coast, was racially abused on Instagram last season. He also highlighted abuse in March 2025.He says it hurts to see those messages, but he will never stop calling it out."It is not a big thing to expose people who do that," he said. "For me, it is very important.
For me and other players, we need to show what people are saying."We need to educate people. I think the people behind Instagram need to work on that. I exposed this on Instagram and Twitter [now called X] because I think they need to be more aware and more conscious of this problem."It is not only football.
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