Long awaited in the France team, Wesley Fofana celebrated his first selection during the victory of the Blues in Gibraltar on Friday (3-0).
It was time for that to happen. 22 years old is not an advanced age to play his first match with the France team, but in the case of Wesley Fofana, it is almost late. From November 2020, when he had just signed in Leicester, England, the central defender was closely watched by Didier Deschamps. “He is one of the players we follow“, had launched the coach, who offered him his first selection against Gibraltar, Friday, June 16.
This lackluster match, won by the Blues against the Llanis (3-0), Fofana may be the only one to remember it in a few years. Facing the Gibraltarian attackers, he was content to manage, making a better impression than his hinge buddy Ibrahima Konaté, despite a small alert at the end of the match due to a communication error with Brice Samba.
Beyond the symbolism of his debut in the France team, this appearance in the tricolor jersey comes above all to put an end to a series of missed acts between the defender and the selection. “Two years ago (in 2021) we were led to assume that he was going to be called to the September rally“, recalls a close friend of Wesley Fofana.
“Wesley is never down, that’s what makes him strong”
But a few weeks before, in August, the defender had suffered a fractured fibula in a friendly match. After returning to form with Leicester at the end of the 2021-2022 season, the player trained in Saint-Étienne was in Deschamps’ small papers. “Wesley had called Coach Ripoll (Prospects coach) to tell him that he was only going to be able to play one game because he was getting married. Coach Deschamps therefore knew that he was not going to be available“, we explain in the entourage of the defender.
But it was above all the physical glitches that prevented Fofana from emerging earlier with the Blues. After his transfer to Chelsea, the defender had to give up the idea of playing in the World Cup due to a knee injury. “He believed in it, he was very disappointed, that’s for sure. But Wesley is quite a philosopher about injuries, he knows it’s part of life. He’s never beaten down, that’s what makes him strong“, assures the relative of Fofana. Last March, the latter was called for the first time by Deschamps. But he must once again forfeit due to a muscular injury to the hamstrings.
This time, Fofana did not miss the boat and played his first match with the Blues. “Playing in the France team is not given to everyone. It’s a childhood dream come true”rejoiced the latter at the microphone of the chain The Teamhappy to put behind him his complicated season with Chelsea.
Fierce competition for the position of central defender
What future for him in the France team now? “Seeing him again is up to him, through what he will do with his club compared to other players in the same position. He plays in a position that is very busy, with a lot of competition”, reacted Didier Deschamps at a press conference. Ibrahima Konaté, Dayot Upamecano, Presnel Kimpembe, Lucas Hernandez, Benoît Badiashile, Axel Disasi, Jean-Clair Todibo, William Saliba… The candidates are very numerous and it is only because Upamecano has “had a little problem” on the morning of the match that Fofana was able to celebrate his first cap.
“He has quite the level and the potential to compete with these players and establish himself as a starter.“, assures Claude Puel, who launched Fofana over time in Ligue 1 with Saint-Étienne during the 2019-2020 season. The former coach of ASSE and Leicester is impressed by “the extraordinary power“of his former protege,”his strength in duels, his way of intervening, his progression in the relaunch”.
“Everything Wesley does is to win, to play, to be number 1. He respects everyone but fears no one.“, assures the close to Fofana. To settle for the duration in central defense with the Blues, he will first have to unbolt Konaté and Upamecano, well established in hinge since the World Cup and the international retirement of Raphaël Varane. But also and above all to achieve solid performances against opponents of a higher level in Gibraltar.