Confirmed Transfer Wesley Fofana

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FrenchFox said:
I have just found a word that rhymes with Fofana.

Aye Aye Ayeaye
Wes-ley Fofana
His talents are plenty
And he's under twenty
And he will take us to Nirvana
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I’m not sure they do rhyme, but that’s just me, so nevermind.
 
Indiana
Africana
Bandana
Rihanna
Arianna
Havanna
Hosanna
Montanna
Savannah
Pollyanna
Oceanna
Americana
Marijuana
Copa Cabana
Wesley Fofana
Dusty Bin
 
Hmmm...

Oh Wesley, Wesley Fofana
He makes us sing out hosanna
Oh Wesley, Wesley Fofana
We love his dashin' and his great range of passin'
At the KP they fell in love
With Wesley, Wesley Fofana
 
to the tune of John Cage’s 4’33’’

Wesley Fofana
He’s not Engelbert Humperdink’s brother
 

Why teenage prodigy Wesley Fofana is a £100m defender-in-waiting​

The Frenchman cost £30m on transfer deadline day and still only has 24 league starts to his name, but looks a brilliant prospect

ByJohn Percy22 November 2020 • 8:08am

Wesley Fofana revealed a striking bleached blond haircut at Leicester’s training ground this week although, in truth, this is one young footballer who will never have a problem in standing out.

Fofana was Leicester’s £30 million signing on transfer deadline day and already appears a frighteningly good prospect, with the French teenager set to test himself against Premier League champions Liverpool on Sunday - one of the most intriguing sub-plots in what is already one of the games of the season.

The garish new hairstyle will make him impossible to miss at Anfield, yet it is his impact on the pitch which has really caught the eye since moving from Saint-Etienne. Days into training with his new-team-mates, Leicester’s squad were all “blown away” by the potential of Fofana, who still has only 24 league starts to his name.

After just seven appearances under Brendan Rodgers, he seems to be a centre-back with it all: positional awareness, a fine range of passing, rapid pace, heading ability and excellent defensive decision-making skills for a player at such an embryonic stage in his career.

Fofana has made 20 interceptions, more than any other teenager in Europe’s top five leagues this season. As Gerry Taggart, the former Leicester centre-back who has watched Fofana closely since his arrival, said this week: “I can’t find any fault in his game.”

Fofana only made his France under-21s debut last month but Didier Deschamps, the national team manager, is already facing a clamour to promote him to the senior squad. It is still early days, of course, and inevitably Fofana is going to make mistakes, but early evidence suggests he is another triumph for Leicester’s recruitment team.

The £30 million transfer fee was undoubtedly high, yet it was also still lower than the one demanded by Burnley for Leicester’s other target James Tarkowski, and it required weeks of bartering from director of football Jon Rudkin. Fofana also pushed hard for the move, despite rival interest from West Ham.
The fee paid by Leicester could eventually rise on instalments, taking the overall price closer to £35 million, but we are talking about a player who could easily be worth triple that amount in years to come.

Leicester have banked nearly £200 million from the sales of Riyad Mahrez, Harry Maguire and Ben Chilwell in the last three years, and it is tempting to wonder what figures they could demand for Fofana in the future if he continues to develop at such speed.

Indeed, Fofana’s emergence over the last 12 months begs the question as to how perceived bigger clubs such as Manchester United and Arsenal failed to properly pick up on his development last season. Arsenal signed William Saliba from Saint-Etienne for £27 million last year, yet he has not played for Mikel Arteta’s first-team and was not even included in their Europa League squad.

Saliba played alongside Fofana last season, after being sent back to the Ligue 1 club on loan, but at this moment the career trajectories of the two 19-year-olds could not be more different.

Rodgers, the Leicester manager, calls Fofana a “silver medallist” as his path to senior football was unconventional and came late. He grew up in a Marseille suburb where money was tight, playing in local junior teams, and did not join Saint-Etienne until the age of 14. Making his first team debut four years later, it was in the 2019-20 season that he began to establish himself.

Leicester had been aware of him even before then, watching Saint-Etienne II [Under-23s] matches which are now readily available to recruitment teams across the world. Fofana was flagged up and researched by scouts and analysts, who then compiled clips before making their presentation to Rodgers. The recruitment team, led by Lee Congerton, undertake all sorts of checks on prospective signings and, for Leicester, conduct off the pitch is equally important as the target’s performances on it.
Fofana appeared 20 times in all competitions for Saint-Etienne’s first team last season, with his team finishing fourth from bottom under former Leicester manager Claude Puel, and his progress was remarkably quick.

Rodgers has admitted it was his performance in last season’s Coupe de France final, against a Paris Saint-Germain team boasting an array of stellar talents including the likes of Kylian Mbappé, Neymar and Mauro Icardi, which ultimately convinced him he was ready for the Premier League.

Fofana is known as ‘Little Wes’ at Leicester’s training headquarters, but in truth his reputation is only growing. Against Wolves, in Leicester’s last game before the international break, he produced arguably his best performance yet. Sunday's encounter with the champions represents a litmus test of his abilities, but nobody expects him to buckle.
 
alex said:
He would’ve learned a lot after Mane tore him a new one
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I don't think he had an awful game - was still probably our best player (which isn't saying much).

Thought he was very good first half. Second half he definitely seemed to fade... However he was pretty much alone in that defence let's face it.

I do think Klopp/Mane recognised at half time that Fofana would come forward and attack the ball a lot and also run forward, so then targeted him for Mane to run in past.

Like you say, I'm sure he'll learn from that.
 
I don't think Fofana deserves any criticism for last night. He's young and is learning. Under the circumstances (I.e. everyone around him being off their games) I reckon he did well. Mane was always going to be a test, a handful. Mane is class and will make much more experienced defenders than Fofana look decidedly average. The outlook is bright still and we've got a potential gem on our books.
 
mabrah said:
I don't think Fofana deserves any criticism for last night. He's young and is learning. Under the circumstances (I.e. everyone around him being off their games) I reckon he did well. Mane was always going to be a test, a handful. Mane is class and will make much more experienced defenders than Fofana look decidedly average. The outlook is bright still and we've got a potential gem on our books.
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I think he does. He has rightly received the plaudits so far this season, so it’s only fair he gets the criticisms. He was absolutely woeful last night.
 
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