Chelsea Confidential: Major replace on Wesley Fofana’s future at Stamford Bridge revealed – and the way BlueCo snubbed supporters’ belief

Wesley Fofana has no intention of leaving Chelsea this summer, sources close to the £200,000-a-week central defender have insisted to Confidential.

That is despite the 25-year-old Frenchman sliding down the pecking order at Stamford Bridge, making him appear a prime candidate for sale after this season.

Fofana’s last appearance saw him hooked at half-time in their 3-0 surrender at Brighton, Liam Rosenior’s final match in charge more than two weeks ago.

Since then, Fofana has been an unused substitute twice – in the FA Cup semi-final against Leeds and Premier League loss to Nottingham Forest – with Tosin Adarabioyo preferred alongside Trevoh Chalobah by interim head coach Calum McFarlane.

Levi Colwill also appeared for the first time this season against Forest, after 10 months out with an ACL injury.

Fofana, who cost £70million rising to £75m when signed from Leicester in 2022, has struggled for form this term. That includes being involved in high-profile incidents during their pitiful run of defeats.

In the 1-0 loss at home to Manchester United, he was off the field being treated for sore ribs when Matheus Cunha scored the game’s only goal, and Fofana later showed his frustration in shrugging off assistant coach Justin Walker’s attempt at consoling him when he was substituted. Rosenior later revealed that Fofana apologised for his reaction.

In the 1-0 loss at home to Newcastle, he was criticised for only jogging back as Anthony Gordon overtook him to tap in.

In the 3-0 loss away at Everton, he received 3/10 in the Daily Mail’s ratings, the worst of a bad bunch as Beto twice had his number while scoring his brace.

In the 5-2 loss away at Paris Saint-Germain, Ousmane Dembele turned him inside out to score with relative ease.

Fofana is known to earn more than £200,000 a week, as his legal team revealed his salary in a statement to court after he took the points on his driving licence to 50, having been caught speeding in his Rolls-Royce.

The France international is under contract until 2029, and might struggle to attract the same salary were he to leave Chelsea this summer.

While we have reported how Chelsea’s players are set to have their wages slashed by as much as 20 per cent for failing to qualify for the Champions League – because the club now issue incentive-based contracts – it is not known whether that applies to Fofana, given he signed his current terms back in 2022. 

That was the summer when Todd Boehly took a hands-on role in recruitment after the BlueCo takeover.

If he is set to stick with a similar salary, Chelsea may consider that an expensive outlay they could do without, though figures around Fofana’s camp have claimed to us that he is not looking at leaving amid new reports that Barcelona may be interested.

Technically, Fofana has never lifted a trophy with Chelsea. When they won the Conference League and Club World Cup, he was not named in the squads submitted for either competition, as the club sought to manage his minutes after his chequered injury history. If they can overcome Manchester City in the FA Cup final on May 16, he would have contributed to his first medal.

RUN, FOREST, RUN!

It is now 35 games out of 35 in which Chelsea’s players have been outrun by their opponents in the Premier League this season. The distances covered at Stamford Bridge on Monday, per Opta, saw the home side collectively run 107.5km, to Forest’s 110.9km.

You can decide for yourself how much distances matter, given a possession-based team are less prone to relentlessly running around in pursuit of taking back the ball.

However, it is hard not to think Chelsea ought to have outrun the opposition at least once over the course of an entire campaign. In a Premier League table for 2025-26, Chelsea naturally rank 20th out of all the clubs. Forest rank 19th, Liverpool 18th, and Aston Villa 17th.

The last time Chelsea outran their Premier League opponents was at home against Manchester United last season, edging it 107.2km to 107.1km.

NO COMMENT FOR THE CST

The Chelsea Supporters’ Trust wrote a lengthy letter to the club’s ownership, board of directors and senior leadership team on April 16 in which they asked them to answer four questions.

They were:

Does the club accept that supporter confidence in its current leadership model and direction has fallen to an unacceptably low level?

What specific changes will now be made to provide greater clarity and accountability in football leadership and decision-making?

What will change in how supporters are engaged, so that engagement is timely, meaningful and capable of influencing decisions rather than simply explaining them after the fact?

How does the club intend to demonstrate that its current strategy can deliver sustained sporting success, financial stability, and a recognisable Chelsea identity in a way that rebuilds supporter trust?

Confidential checked in with CST sources this week, and we were told they have received no response from the club.

CAL GIVETH, CAL TAKETH

While McFarlane gifted Chelsea’s players a few days off after their FA Cup semi-final win over Leeds – supposedly some of the squad weren’t too happy with Rosenior not giving them enough of those while he was in charge – there was none of that after losing in the Premier League at home to Forest.

They were told to report back at Cobham the next day to begin preparing for Liverpool at Anfield this Saturday.

CUT-PRICE COACH TRAVEL

With train chaos affecting supporters looking to attend Chelsea’s last game of the season away at Sunderland, coach travel to the Stadium of Light has now been slashed from £50 per person to £15. Those buses will leave at 7am from Stamford Bridge, and 8.30am from Newport Pagnell.

Chelsea have been handed an allocation of 3,110 tickets, though after six successive league losses, they need to find form and fast if that trip is to have anything riding on the result.

DOUBLE BOOKED

Chelsea versus Tottenham at Stamford Bridge being rescheduled for the night of Tuesday, May 19 is troublesome for a few journalists, because it now clashes with the Football Writers’ Association dinner honouring our Footballer of the Year in London.

My vote, for what it’s worth, went to Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes.