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Chelsea fans are ecstatic to see new signing Wesley Fofana in the starting lineup for their Premier League clash against West Ham United today (September 3).
The Blues signed the Frenchman from Leicester City for around £75 million this summer. He became the second-most expensive defender in the world behind Harry Maguire, who joined Manchester United for £80 million in 2019.
Fofana, 21, played 52 matches for the Foxes in all competitions after joining them from Saint-Etienne in 2020. He suffered a fibula fracture before the start of the previous campaign and could only play 12 matches across all competitions.
The Frenchman will now want to make up for lost time with Chelsea. He will be joined by Thiago Silva and Kalidou Koulibaly in a back three against the Hammers, with Reece James and Marc Cucurella operating as wingbacks.
Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Mateo Kovacic and Conor Gallagher make up the midfield, with Raheem Sterling and Christian Pulisic starting up front.
Chelsea fans are excited to see Fofana make his club debut at Stamford Bridge today and took to Twitter to share their thoughts on the same. Here are some of their reactions:
Chelsea are currently tenth in the Premier League table after winning just two out of their five matches so far. The Blues beat Everton and Leicester City but suffered defeats against Leeds United and Southampton. They also played out a 2-2 draw against rivals Tottenham Hotspur.
The west London outfit have conceded in every match so far except their opening fixture against Everton. Manager Thomas Tuchel will hope Fofana can help his side grab a win and a clean sheet against West Ham.
Chelsea manager Thomas Tuchel excited by Wesley Fofana signing
The Blues lost defenders Antonio Rudiger and Andreas Christensen this summer after the duo departed Stamford Bridge following the expiration of their respective contracts.
Tuchel's side signed Koulibaly earlier in the window and have now brought in Fofana. Asked how excited he was about the Frenchman's signing, Tuchel said in a press conference (via Football.London):
"Very, because he is that kind of profile that we identified very early to replace Toni [Rudiger] and Andreas [Christensen]. We are very happy that we stayed patient, super happy that Todd [Boehly] was relentless on it and never gave up."
He added:
"We managed to fulfil this transfer. Wesley is young, he's fast, he's very, very strong in set-pieces, defending and attacking. He was one of the very early targets to replace our guys that left the club."
Fofana is one of Chelsea's nine signings who arrived at the club in the recently-concluded transfer window. The Blues also signed Sterling, Cucurella, Koulibaly, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Cesare Casadei, Gabriel Slonina, Carney Chukwuemeka and Denis Zakaria this summer.
